Disgraced former politician Barry Urban fighting for life after being punched by customer in Kelmscott
Disgraced politician Barry Urban — who was at the centre of one of WA’s most bizarre political scandals — is fighting for his life in hospital with severe head injuries after a brutal attack at his workplace in Kelmscott.
Mr Urban, who was forced to quit politics amid a fake medal scandal, was jailed for four years in 2021 later after pleading guilty to forging records and lying to State Parliament.
He is now in Royal Perth Hospital’s intensive care unit in a critical condition after he was punched by a customer at his workplace about 8am on Tuesday.
The blow caused the former Labor MP to fall unconscious and hit his head. He suffered serious head injuries and was rushed to RPH for emergency surgery.
The attacker allegedly sped off in a white ute but was arrested by Armadale detectives this afternoon. The 25-year-old in custody is still being questioned and no charges had been laid on Tuesday night.
Camera IconBarry Urban. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian
It is understand the homicide squad is on standby in the event Mr Urban is unable to survive his injuries.
The former Labor MP was released from prison last year and had pursued a fresh start at a tyre business in Kelmscott. He had recently taken on the role of manager.
Urban’s falsehoods were exposed by an investigation by The West Australian in 2017 which revealed medals he wore and claimed were for investigations of war crimes in Bosnia were fakes.
It was revealed Urban had embellished his educational background, forging documents that claimed he had a degree and certificate from both Leeds and Portsmouth universities — which he never attended.
In 2001, Urban used his fake qualifications to help in his application for the WA Police Force, which was unsuccessful. However, after applying again four years later, Urban was accepted and served as a police officer until his resignation in 2012.
In 2007, in an application for accelerated entry as a detective he falsely claimed, among other things, that he had been seconded to an international task force to investigate war crimes in Bosnia in the late 1990s.
When a special Procedure and Privileges Committee questioned him in 2018 about his history, he knowingly gave false answers on multiple occasions.
Sending Urban to jail in 2021, sentencing judge Carmel Barbagallo described him as the “real life Pinocchio of Parliament”.
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