{"id":23729,"date":"2026-06-03T03:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/23729\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T03:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:45:19","slug":"boys-trip-friends-maua-lagaaia-testify-in-lincoln-hoad-one-punch-death-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/23729\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Boy\u2019s trip\u2019 friends, Maua Lagaaia, testify in Lincoln Hoad one-punch death trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The friends of a Brisbane man accused of causing the one-punch death of a Dalby man during a \u201cboys\u2019 trip\u201d to the country races have told a jury what occurred in the lead up to the tragic street altercation.<\/p>\n

On day one of the trial before the Toowoomba Supreme Court on June 1, Brisbane man Maua Lagaaia, 35, pleaded not guilty to unlawfully striking Dalby man Lincoln Hoad, 32,<\/a> outside the Australian Hotel and causing his death on September 16, 2023.<\/p>\n

Mr Lagaaia, who had never met Mr Hoad before that evening, says he acted in self-defence.<\/p>\n

The jury was told Mr Lagaaia, and six Brisbane men travelled to Dalby, about 200km west of Brisbane, for an annual vacation when tragedy struck several hours after their arrival.<\/p>\n

In his opening address to the jury, Crown Prosecutor Michael Gawrych said Mr Hoad died from head injuries he sustained after Mr Lagaaia punched him in the head, causing him to fall to the ground.<\/p>\n

Mr Gawrych said before the fatal incident occurred about 1.13am, Mr Lagaaia and the alleged victim crossed paths in a pokies room at the Criterion Hotel about 10.40pm, where words were exchanged after Mr Hoad won a feature prize.<\/p>\n

Mr Hoad was alone.<\/p>\n

He said CCTV showed Mr Lagaaia wagging his finger up and down at Mr Hoad, whose face visibly changed from smiling to a serious look.<\/p>\n

Mr Gawrych said later, when Mr Lagaaia was waiting to be let into his accommodation at the Australian Hotel, he recognised Mr Hoad walking past, and was captured on CCTV pointing at the man before walking in his direction.<\/p>\n

The jury was told it was contested who started the altercation, which lasted about 6 seconds, and who threw the first punch.<\/p>\n

Mr Gawrych said a Dalby man in his 70s who had since passed, Graham Cohen, was walking out of the Australian Hotel when he saw the altercation.<\/p>\n

Mr Gawrych said Mr Cohen was not drinking that night, and told police Mr Lagaaia looked drunk and angry and said something which prompted a mellow Mr Hoad to say something back in a cheeky tone.<\/p>\n

He said Mr Lagaaia then followed Mr Hoad as he walked away, and told police he saw Mr Lagaaia throw the first punch. <\/p>\n

Three of the men who were a part of the \u201cboys trip\u201d gave evidence during the trial, two of whom were with Mr Lagaaia when the incident occurred, the other was in the pokies room.<\/p>\n

Brisbane pharmacy chain area manager Dom Hudson was the first witness, and told the jury he knew Mr Lagaaia through a friend of a friend, and they had socialised a handful of times over a few years.<\/p>\n

Mr Hudson told the jury in the hours before the incident, the men had been drinking at the Australian Hotel, before moving onto the Criterion Hotel to watch an NRL game, and later the Russell Tavern.<\/p>\n

He told the jury he was present in the pokies room, and that Mr Hoad was \u201chostile\u201d towards their party when he was congratulated on a pokies win, and he did not recall Mr Lagaaia talking to the man.<\/p>\n

Mr Hudson said Mr Hoad essentially asked them to \u201cf\u2014k off\u201d and focus on themselves.<\/p>\n

CCTV played in court showed Mr Lagaaia approaching Mr Hoad on at least two occasions, during one of which, he rested a hand on Mr Hoad\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

Later in the evening, Mr Hudson, Mr Lagaaia, and Brisbane social worker Sam Cockrill walked back to their accommodation.<\/p>\n

Mr Hudson said while he was trying to find the key card, he heard a sound, as if someone had recognised someone, but he did not know who made it, and it might have been Mr Lagaaia who then said, \u201cthat\u2019s the guy from the Criterion\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he was turned away from the altercation as it occurred and could not recall what was being said, but that it sounded hostile.<\/p>\n

Mr Hudson said he was not sure who swung first, but he saw the pair separate, before more firsts began flying, before one landed on Mr Hoad\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

He said Mr Hoad fell to the ground and he rendered what first aid he could, and asked Mr Cockrill to call triple-0, as blood was pooling around his head from his nose and ears.<\/p>\n

When cross-examined by defence barrister Craig Eberhardt, Mr Hudson confirmed he told police Mr Hoad was the aggressor, and Mr Lagaaia was just having some fun when he pointed him out.<\/p>\n

He also confirmed Mr Lagaaia was calm and happy during the evening, and that the group had taken selfies and drank beer with Olympian Australian speed skater and OAM Steven Bradbury.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Eberhardt asked Mr Hudson about evidence he gave in the past about hearing Mr Hoad use a word he didn\u2019t use, and asked him to put it on the record.<\/p>\n

Mr Hudson said the word was the N-word and he was not sure at what point in the physical altercation he heard it.<\/p>\n

When Mr Cockrill took the witness stand, the jury heard he was not present during the pokies room incident and had been a few steps inside the hotel during the altercation.<\/p>\n

He said as the doors opened, he heard Mr Hoad shouting loudly in their direction, and he said words to the effect of, \u201cMaua no,\u201d or \u201cMaua don\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Cockrill said he did not see what happened, or hear what was said, and he went back outside after hearing a loud slapping noise followed by a loud crack.<\/p>\n

Neither of the men recalled seeing Mr Lagaaia outside, however the Crown told the jury he returned to his room and did not render any aid to Mr Hoad.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination, Mr Cockrill confirmed he told Maua not to approach Mr Hoad because it wasn\u2019t a good idea to speak to him.<\/p>\n

Another friend who gave evidence about what he saw in the pokies room was the organiser of the boys trip, and Department of Transport and Main Roads principal HR adviser Ben Dorrington-Plumb.<\/p>\n

The Queensland Rugby Referees Association vice president told the court at the time of the incident he was a policy adviser for the Department of Education, a detail prompted by Lagaaia\u2019s barrister. <\/p>\n

Mr Dorrington-Plumb said he knew Mr Lagaaia through a friend, David Browne, and he invited him on the trip as he was well regarded by their friendship group as being honest and fun.<\/p>\n

Mr Dorrington-Plumb said he didn\u2019t see any altercation occur in the gaming room, but that the group had friendly chats with a number of patrons.<\/p>\n

He said he went into the room intermittently as he was watching an NRL finals match between the Storm and Roosters, which was won by the former following a last-minute try.<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, barrister Eberhardt asked Mr Dorrington-Plumb about Steven Bradbury, who he said bought the group a round of his beers called the Last Man Standing. <\/p>\n

He said that although he left the pub with Mr Lagaaia, Mr Hudson, and Mr Cockrill, he ended up leaving the trio and walking to McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Mr Dorrington-Plumb said he found out about the incident through a text message. <\/p>\n

The Crown and defence are expected to give their closing arguments to the jury on Wednesday, June 3. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The friends of a Brisbane man accused of causing the one-punch death of a Dalby man during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22190,23,133,22180,22178,22188,99,22186,22193,22175,22196,15725,22194,22173,22185,22189,16998,2572,22182,13344,21363,22172,120,22176,22187,22195,22183,22181,22177,212,22179,22171,17985,22191,22174,22184,22192,22170],"class_list":["post-23729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-area-manager","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-speed-skater","tag-ben-dorrington-plumb","tag-boys-trip","tag-brisbane","tag-craig-eberhardt","tag-dalby","tag-david-brown","tag-daylight-stabber","tag-department-of-education","tag-dominic-laurence-hudson","tag-fatal-hit","tag-fatal-street-punch","tag-finals-match","tag-gaming-room","tag-gold-medallist","tag-graham-cohen","tag-head-injuries","tag-lincoln-hoad","tag-michael-gawrych","tag-oceania","tag-one-punch-death","tag-one-punch-death-trial","tag-pokies-room","tag-pokies-room-incident","tag-police-hunt","tag-policy-adviser","tag-queensland","tag-sam-allan-cockrill","tag-steven-bradbury","tag-text-message","tag-told-police","tag-traffic-cone","tag-tragic-one-punch-death","tag-tragic-street-altercation","tag-witness-stand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}