Mauritian Martial Arts Expert Kills 70-Year-Old Aussie

Francois Joseph Ghassibe, a 32-year-old martial arts expert of Mauritian descent, has been handed a six-year and nine-month prison term by an Australian court for the manslaughter of an elderly individual.

The tragic incident occurred on April 1, 2022, in Adelaide when Ghassibe, a passenger in a taxi, became embroiled in a confrontation after the taxi was cut off by 70-year-old Brian Richardson.

Attempts to mediate the dispute escalated when Richardson began physically assaulting Ghassibe, who, at 40 years Richardson’s junior and significantly taller, responded with force.

Brian Richardson, who was killed in 2022 in a road-rage incident in Adelaide. Photograph: South Australia Police/PR IMAGE

Witnesses, including Richardson’s wife, brother, and sister-in-law, watched in horror as Ghassibe delivered a final kick to Richardson’s chin, causing him to fall, fatally striking his head on the pavement.

A subsequent postmortem examination confirmed that the impact with the roadway was the lethal blow.

Ghassibe, who confessed to manslaughter but denied an intent to murder, was deemed by SA Supreme Court Justice David Peek to have acted unlawfully, ruling the kick as lacking genuine self-defense and an act that carried a foreseeable risk of serious harm or death to Richardson.

A psychological evaluation disclosed Ghassibe’s troubled upbringing, marred by frequent physical assaults and racial discrimination due to his mixed Mauritian and Lebanese heritage.

Further exacerbating his psychological state was his wife’s severe assault by an assailant, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder.

This, coupled with the effects of drugs and alcohol in his system, along with temporary vision impairment from the assault, compromised Ghassibe’s capacity for rational and proportionate action during the altercation.

Despite expressions of remorse and signs of progress towards rehabilitation, Justice Peek emphasized the gravity of the loss suffered by the victim’s family and friends.

Consequently, Ghassibe received a sentence of six years and nine months, with parole eligibility set for October 2026, following a non-parole period of four years and six months, backdated to his arrest. As Ghassibe was escorted from the courtroom, he blew a kiss to his parents in the public gallery.

His lawyer Nick Vadasz told reporters outside his client was “very remorseful” and lamented that his initial guilty plea for manslaughter was not accepted, which would have saved all involved from a lengthy trial.

Ghassibe will be eligible for parole in October 2026.

Source: The Guardian