Protected Entertainment Precincts: Identity of person handed first exclusion order under new laws revealed

The identity of the person hit with WA’s first exclusion order after allegedly trying to enter a Northbridge venue with a knife has been revealed. Carl Simphiwe Matshazi did not have to appear in Perth Magistrates Court in person on Monday morning after it was revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19. Instead, the 18-year-old was connected to the courtroom by phone from custody, where he has been on remand since New Year’s Day. Mr Matshazi was arrested on the evening of January 1 after allegedly trying to take a large hunting knife into a Northbridge bar. The alleged incident prompted police to use their powers to ban individuals from party precincts for anti-social, violent or threatening behaviour under the State’s new Protected Entertainment Precincts laws. The legislation, which came into effect on Christmas Eve, was introduced in the wake of the Coward’s Collar campaign led by Enza Raco, the widow of Giuseppe ‘Peppe’ Raco who was killed in a one-punch attack in Northbridge in 2020. It allows the establishment of Protected Entertainment Precincts, or PEPs — named in honour of Mr Raco — in Northbridge, Perth, Fremantle, Scarborough, Hillarys and Mandurah. Mr Matshazi became the first person to be hit with one of these exclusion orders, which will ban him from those precincts for six months. He was also charged with being armed in or near a place of public entertainment and possessing cannabis with intent to sell or supply. He is due back in court in two weeks, when it is expected he will no longer be in COVID isolation and will apply for bail.