A FAMILY feud that spilled into a mob chase along the Niagara Street bike path has seen two men jailed.
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Craig Waters, 38, and Ricky Quinlan, 34, will spend a minimum four months in jail after pleading guilty to affray and assault.
The pair, along with five others, appeared before Magistrate Karen Stafford earlier this week.
She heard how the up to 15-strong mob taunted a man outside his Armidale unit after he had been arguing with Waters on the morning of January 3.
He hid in his unit but then, hearing the mob, armed himself with a steak knife and jumped from his second-floor balcony to escape his antagonists.
But they gave chase in cars, driving on to the bike path where they tracked down their exhausted victim and beat him.
He was later treated in hospital for cuts and bruises all over his body.
On Tuesday, Magistrate Stafford also imposed suspended sentences and community service after the other offenders all pleaded guilty.
Matthew Carr, Kirralee Crawford, Eliah Moran, Ricky Quinlan, Grace Ward and Shantell Waters joined Quinlan and Craig Waters in the packed courtroom along with their supporters.
The incident stemmed from what Magistrate Stafford described as a long-standing “simmering inter-generational dispute” between two families.
Craig Waters, who Magistrate Stafford called “the ringleader of the offence”, received 16 months imprisonment and will be eligible for parole on March 23, 2015.
His sentence was backdated five days for time already spent in custody.
Co-offender Quinlan was sentenced to 12-months imprisonment, with a six-month non-parole period.
Quinlan will be eligible for release on November 28 after Magistrate Stafford also backdated his sentence by two months for time already spent in jail.
Ward, 42, had her sentence suspended for 12 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
The court heard the mother of 14 had struck the victim with a metal tent pole three times.
She was spared jail because of a significant mental illness and the hardship custody would cause her and her children.
Both Shantell Waters, 36, and Carr, 45, were convicted of affray and received a 14-month suspended sentence, while Crawford was given a 12-month suspended sentence also for affray.
Moran, 21, was sentenced to 100 hours community service for affray.
The magistrate said while Moran had the least involvement of the seven, a bond would “not address the effect his conduct [in the affray] had on the victim and community”.
