Arkaba Hotel owner fuming after weak sentence for pub rampage
Arkaba Hotel owner Peter Hurley is fuming over what he sees as a slap-on-the-wrist sentence for the man who terrorised his team during a late-night rampage at the popular Adelaide pub.
Hurley, a veteran publican who’s been in the game since 1975, says the fallout has been brutal for his people and for the wider industry’s ability to hire. He penned a letter to the editor last month, published by The Advertiser, after reading the court outcome for Samuel William Ajal over the incident at the Fullarton venue last year.
“I was really much more distressed after I read the report of the penalty, or lack of penalty, in the court report,” Hurley told The Advertiser. “It was quite distressing for the staff who had been assaulted and threatened … to read that.”
Mr Hurley said his staff were “traumatised” by the assault and that the reputational hit makes recruitment tougher. “It damages your capacity to attract employees, just the fact that it becomes known that it happened to those people unexpectedly on that particular night,” he said. “There is a much greater awareness and expectation of workers being entitled to feel safe in the workplace … now.”
Ajal, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and two counts of property damage after a wild outburst that smashed three gaming machines. Damage to the machines topped $80,000, according to Hurley and court documents, and two security staff were assaulted. Appearing via video link from Yatala Labour Prison, Ajal drew a pointed assessment from Magistrate Luke Davis, who said he was a “good person”, except when he was drunk. The sentence: five months’ jail, suspended for a two-year good behaviour bond.
Hurley argues penalties used to bite harder when patrons damaged property, and he wants to see consequences that actually compensate venues. “When some(one) would deliberately break one of our windows at the hotels, maybe smash the door on the way out, the CIB would arrest them (and) charge them with wilful damage,” he said.
Back then, he recalls, the process was simple and effective. “It would go to court and the magistrate would say, well, spend $200, for the damage you caused to the door and invariably, the person would say, ‘oh, well, I haven’t got any money in the bank. “Right, you’ll pay $20 a week for ten weeks. Move on. But that seems to have evaporated from the system.”
For Hurley, it’s not just about one incident—it’s about sending a message that hospitality workers deserve to feel safe, and that those who cross the line should pay up and face meaningful consequences.
Jonathan Jackson, 4th November 2025
