Bouncers bailed over Crown casino death

crown casino

Three Crown Casino bouncers have faced court in Melbourne over the death of a man who suffered a heart attack after a dispute with bouncers.
Source: The Advertiser




THREE bouncers charged over the death of a Crown patron are still employed by the casino.


Crown management said the men were still employed, pending the outcome of court proceedings, but had been given alternative duties so they would not deal with customers.

The three appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

One, Matthew Lawson, 26, of Hoppers Crossing, has been charged with manslaughter over the death of casino patron Anthony Dunning.

Mr Dunning, 40, was at the casino with friends on July 3 when he was involved in an alleged dispute with security staff.

He is said to have been pinned down on the floor for up to six minutes.

Mr Dunning, of Ferntree Gully, is believed to have had a heart attack and died in hospital four days later.

The casino incident was filmed by security cameras.

It is believed investigators have interviewed dozens of people, including crowd controllers, friends of Mr Dunning and independent witnesses.

The two other bouncers, Benjamin Michael Vigo, 23, of Hoppers Crossing, and Cameron Paul Sanderson, 39, of Northcote, have been charged with assault.

Prosecutor Caroline Boult told the court that homicide squad detectives did not oppose a bail application by Mr Lawson.

Ms Boult said investigators had interviewed and released him, pending a pathology report.

His two co-accused were already on bail.

The men walked from court together with their lawyer, Tony Hargreaves, after the brief hearing.

The three are expected to appear in the same court in January.

In a statement, Crown confirmed “that a male security officer has been charged with manslaughter and two other male security officers have been charged with assault over an incident at Crown on 3 July 2011, following which a customer, Mr Anthony Dunning, unfortunately passed away”.

The statement also said: “Pending the outcome of the court proceedings, the employees who have been charged will continue to perform alternate (sic) duties which require no contact with customers.”

Crown said it would make no further comment.

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