A young man accused of delivering a fatal one-punch assault that killed a high-profile Australian Labor Party strategist has formally rejected a manslaughter charge and will proceed to a public trial in Western Australia’s highest court.
Brodie Dewar, 20, entered a not guilty plea during a preliminary hearing held Tuesday at the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court, responding directly to the magistrate’s reading of the charge with a clear “Not guilty, Your Honour.” The charge alleges Dewar unlawfully killed 36-year-old Tim Picton in an incident that unfolded on the night of December 27 last year outside a popular nightclub in Perth’s Northbridge entertainment district, under circumstances that do not meet the legal threshold for murder.
According to court documents and official accounts, the altercation left Picton with severe head injuries. He was rushed to a local hospital immediately after the attack, where medical teams placed him in an induced coma in an effort to treat his trauma. Despite extensive medical intervention, Picton succumbed to his injuries several weeks after the incident.
During Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Dewar’s defense lawyer Simon Watters confirmed the defense team was prepared to move the case forward to trial in the Western Australian Supreme Court. Magistrates granted the request to commit the defendant to the higher court, scheduling Dewar’s first formal appearance in the Supreme Court for August 24.
Before his death, Picton had built a significant reputation within Australian Labor circles, with a resume spanning multiple state branches of the party. A former president of South Australian Young Labor, he went on to work as a staffer for federal Labor Members of Parliament Amanda Rishworth and Don Farrell, and also held a role on the staff of former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews before relocating to Western Australia. He was the younger brother of current South Australian State Development Minister Chris Picton, and political observers widely credit him with playing a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in former WA Premier Mark McGowan’s landslide election victory in 2021, a win that delivered Labor a historic majority in the state’s parliament.