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A night of intended celebration at a popular entertainment venue descended into chaos and a violent stabbing that left one man seriously injured.
In December 2019, 29-year-old Ewan Yakou attended a concert at La Mirage Reception and Convention Centre in Somerton, in Melbourne’s north. Several hundred people had gathered for an event at the venue’s Oasis Room, while security staff were on hand to monitor the crowd.
On his arrival with friends, David Elley and Adaay Kakoz a disagreement arose with venue staff about how much corkage would be charged.
The dispute grew heated with violence when Elley and Kakoz struck Jamal Younan, another attendee who was related to the venue’s owners. Security guards swiftly intervened, ejecting them from the premises.
Yakou – who was not involved in the corkage dispute, left with his friends in his car. Approaching the exit of the car park, Elley and Kakoz insisted on returning to the foyer on foot.
The driver waited in the car but within minutes heard screams and sprinted back inside.
What followed was captured in chilling detail by multiple mobile phone videos and security cameras. It was a violent brawl in the foyer involving Yakou, his two friends, Younan, venue staff, and security guards.
The footage showed punches thrown, bodies grappling and moments of sheer panic. In the thick of the melee, Younan produced a large kitchen knife and stabbed all three men.
Yakou was slashed across his abdomen and wrist, suffering serious injuries that required hospital treatment.
He filed a lawsuit in 2021 seeking damages from Younan – the man who stabbed him; Jo-Yo Nominees Pty Ltd – the operator of the venue; and Genesis International Pty Ltd, the operator’s landlord.
The claim against Younan was settled on confidential terms on day one of the 7-day trial, leaving the contest to proceed only as against the venue operator and the building owner.
Yakou contended the venue had failed to provide adequate security on the night and that this failure created the volatile environment from which the riot arose.
He alleged that having only three security guards on duty – despite 16 having originally been engaged for the earlier portion of the evening – was insufficient and that additional security, better supervision and a well-considered safety plan could have prevented the violence from spiralling out of control.
He called Dr Tony Zalewski – an expert in security protocols – who testified that the venue’s security was poorly managed, reactive rather than proactive and lacked appropriate risk assessment and planning.
The defendants countered that Yakou and his friends had triggered the events by physically attacking their assailant during the initial corkage dispute.
Further, having safely exited and voluntarily choosing to return, Yakou exposed his own self to the risk that materialised.
Justice Stephen O’Meara – in delivering the judgment in the Victorian Supreme Court – found that the venue had not breached its duty. There was no reasonable basis – he reasoned – for venue operators to have anticipated the extreme violence that unfolded so rapidly after Yakou and his friends returned to the foyer.
The stabbing, though horrific, was an “unforeseeable act of criminal violence” rather than a predictable consequence of inadequate security planning.
The court also agreed that Yakou had assumed the risk of injury by voluntarily re-entering the scene and joining in the melee. His actions depicted in the CCTV vision of the altercation were taken to have contradicted a claim that he had entered only to protect others.
His claims dismissed, he now faces an order to pay the legal costs of the venue operator and the landlord.
Yakou v Jo-Yo Nominees Pty Ltd [2025] VSC 58 O’Meara J, 28 February 2025
Categories: Entertainment venue injury