A 27-year-old man who assaulted his pregnant partner in an incident that was accidentally captured on camera during a Fortnite live stream has narrowly avoided jail.
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Luke Munday was this morning handed a 14-month community corrections order on one charge of domestic violence-related common assault, a charge he pleaded guilty to in September.
In December 2018 Munday was conducting a live Fortnite Twitch stream at his Oran Park home, when his then-pregnant partner repeatedly urged him to stop playing and eat dinner. During an ensuring argument, Munday rose up from his chair and moved off-screen. A loud slapping sound was then heard, followed by a woman’s cries and loud assertions that she had been struck. A viewer of the stream who witnessed the incident contacted police, who arrested Munday that night and charged him.
In handing down the corrections order today, Magistrate Mark Douglass repeatedly admonished Munday’s legal counsel, chiding them for claiming the incident was “just” a slap – a word that was summarily withdrawn – as well as the suggestion that Munday was acting in “excessive self defence.”
Magistrate Douglass recorded a conviction against Munday, noting that the couple’s two small children also witnessed the assault, stating “There’s no need to do great research to find that children who witness domestic violence struggle. It has a real impact on them,” and that Munday’s response to the argument was “not appropriate, unlawful and violent.”
Following the assault, Munday’s Twitch account was permanently banned and removed, and he subsequently lost his job as a Telstra network engineer.
