Rioter: 'Sorry, that's not who I am'

Joesiah Briggs, 18, who was involved in violent scenes at Woodridge on Tuesday. PIC: Peter Wallis Source: The Courier-Mail

NO ONE was more shocked than Joesiah Briggs at the confronting photograph of himself wielding a weightlifting bar on The Courier-Mail's front page yesterday.

The 18-year-old engineering student says the angry young man pictured on the streets of Woodridge, south of Brisbane, does not reflect who he is and he wants to apologise.

"That was me, but it's not me," he said as calm returned to the suburb yesterday.

"I've been brought up from the day I was born to right now in a Christian home. I regret doing that and I'm sorry."

Joesiah was in Townsville when his parents' Woodridge home was attacked on Saturday night during a dispute with a Tongan family living in the same street.

Days of violence followed until the two warring families finally declared the fight was over yesterday and pledged to repair the damage to the community.

As peace returned, Joesiah said his mother Bronwyn's anguish convinced him of the need to personally apologise for his part in the clashes.

"I was fairly angry with what happened. She said: 'Look, we're going through this, we're stressing out, what do you think the other mothers and fathers are feeling?'

"I felt bad for my family, I felt bad for the (Tongan) boys' family because we know them. It's just not right.

Joseiah Briggs was shocked at the image of him brandishing a metal bar. He has apologised for his behaviour. PIC: Peter Wallis

"I'm sorry to the people that are living in the street that had to put up with it and the mothers and fathers that are worried about their children.

"I'm sorry to the mother and father of those boys."

Confirming he was friends with members of the Tongan family before the fighting, he said the two sides would put the events behind them.

"I grew up in these streets with these boys and played touch footy and we hung out. Every time I'd see one of them we'd stop and have a yarn," he said.

"I just want to make it clear there's no more going on and I'm sorry and ready to settle down and come to a peace."

Helping to defuse the tension, the Briggs family packed up and moved to the Gold Coast yesterday morning.

By the afternoon, there were far fewer officers in Douglas St but police planned to maintain a presence in the area in coming days.

Inspector Dave Nevin said more charges could be laid over the clashes, which tied up police resources for days and terrorised nearby residents.

A Logan City Council van parked in the street filmed the events and police will review the footage.

Social media was one of the biggest contributors to the "ugly" events, he said.

"People were picking up rumours and they became fact but they weren't necessarily truth and they were feeding off that," he said.

"The families that live here . . . they weren't as angry. They wanted to move on."

Incredibly, with a heavy police presence on Tuesday night, five men used a gun to steal a pizza from a man on nearby Station Rd at 10.40pm.

Separately, a 39-year-old man was attacked with bottles and pieces of wood in a carpark off Ewing Rd, Woodridge, at 1.40am yesterday.

Both incidents were believed to be unrelated to the family dispute.

Community leader Paul Butterworth said the truce was brokered after both families met in a carpark between their homes on Tuesday night.

Members of the two families embraced and shared a prayer in the emotional meeting.

"This is the first day of the healing process," Mr Butterworth said.

"We're willing to work together to make that happen.

"This is not going to be a one-off thing. We want to keep this ongoing with the communities, with all the different groups.

"We are going to try. Let's start bringing people together. Let's start creating one community, not different communities.

"When you come into the Logan area we've got 250 different nationalities living in this area and we've got to learn to live all together," he said.

"It doesn't help when we fight against each other."

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