The man who was involved in a wild brawl with Paul Kent has had the affray charge against him dropped after pleading self-defence and alleging that the former Fox Sports star spat at him during their infamous street brawl.
On Monday, Tamer Uzun appeared at Manly Local Court in relation to the altercation that took place outside Totti’s restaurant in Rozelle in April 2024.
Uzun had one charge of affray dismissed after Magistrate Michael Blair heard submissions from prosecutors and Uzun’s legal counsel, who argued their client had acted in self-defence.
In July, Kent had attempted to have his affray charge dealt with on the grounds of his mental health.
The 55-year-old failed in that application and was slapped with a good behaviour bond, but avoided a criminal conviction.
Kent parted ways with NewsCorp and Fox after a video of the brawl went viral online.
Tamer Uzun (right) told a court on Monday that he feared Paul Kent was going to ‘bash him’ before their infamous clash on a Sydney street in April last year
Kent (pictured) attempted to have his affray charge dealt with on mental health grounds
Kent (in black pants and T-shirt, centre) and Uzun (far left) made headlines when footage of their physical clash went viral
On Monday, Uzun’s legal counsel, Bryan Wrench, told the court that his client was sober at the time and did not initiate the wild brawl.
‘Mr Kent is the person provoking the incident and our client has had to defend himself,’ Wrench argued.
Kent acknowledged accusations that he had consumed 21 beers across the space of 11 hours at the Sackville Hotel prior to the physical clash in comments made in February.
The court was shown footage of the moment that Kent advanced through a group of people towards Uzun before the scuffle unfolded.
The melee ended with Kent, 55, being thrown into a tree. He suffered six broken ribs and a collapsed lung as a result.
Prosecutor Sergeant Adrian Walsh argued that Uzun had thrown punches and had not attempted to curtail the incident.
Uzun had been at the restaurant for a birthday and had been waiting for his partner outside the restaurant.
Kent accused Uzun of ‘s**t-potting’ him, but during Monday’s court hearing, Uzun denied any allegations that he had attempted to provoke the situation.
‘At the start, I thought it was a joke,’ Uzun said.
Uzun (pictured right with his lawyer Bryan Wrench) had an affray charge dismissed on Monday in a Sydney court
The court also heard Uzun’s claim that Kent (pictured) spat at him during the melee
‘I didn’t know what he was talking about, we were laughing about the accusations.’
He had told Kent to ‘f*** off’ and ‘keep going’, but added that the NRL reporter had continued to remonstrate with him.
In the video, Kent can also be seen attempting to take off his watch. Noting the moment, Uzun told the court that he had thought ‘this bloke’s going to bash me’.
He added that he had attempted to strike Kent as the melee exploded into the middle of the road.
Uzun alleged that Kent had got back to his feet after being thrown into the tree, before he allegedly spat at him.
‘I didn’t want a fight,’ Uzun said, replying to suggestions by Sergeant Walsh that he had ‘beckoned’ to Kent to come at him.
Handing down his judgement, Magistrate Michael Blair explained that it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Uzun had acted unreasonably in the process of throwing a punch at Kent.
He acknowledged that Uzun had taken his jumper off in preparation for the fracas before adding that Uzun had not helped the situation by furiously firing back at Kent.
But noting that Kent was the ‘more aggressive’ party, Magistrate Blair chose to dismiss the affray charge against Uzun, adding: ‘In the circumstances and with all the evidence, it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.’
