Gold Coast bouncers who killed NZ man jailed

Two bouncers found guilty of killing a New Zealand man outside a popular Gold Coast tavern have been jailed for seven years.

A Queensland Supreme Court jury took about 10 hours to find Morne Lombaard, 30, and Denis Legradi, 32, guilty of the manslaughter of Terii Tararo outside the Fisherman's Wharf Tavern on May 18, 2008.

Lombaard was found not guilty on Wednesday of the more serious charge of murder, while Legradi had his murder charge thrown out during the trial.

A third bouncer, Naeroa Petera Tepaukonui, 37, was acquitted of Mr Tararo's manslaughter, but was convicted of assault occasioning bodily harm of another man on the same evening.

During the trial, the Brisbane court was told Mr Tararo died after being restrained by the bouncers during a fight outside the tavern.

Prosecutor Michael Byrne SC told the court the three men used unnecessary force and violence during the altercation, and that this caused Mr Tararo's death.

He said Lombaard's "cowardly" decision to repeatedly punch and kick Mr Tararo in the head as he lay on the ground was a "complete overreaction", while the choker-hold Legradi put on the drunken man was "excessive".

Defence counsel for both men acknowledged the jury must have accepted their clients' actions killed Mr Tararo, even though there was no solid medical evidence to pinpoint a cause of death.

Both men were jailed for seven years.

Tepaukonui received a three-month wholly suspended sentence for what the court heard was a "retributive attack" on another pub patron that evening.

The court was told Tepaukonui punched the man in the face and then taunted him as he lay on the ground under the restraint of two fellow bouncers.

In handing down the sentences, Justice Martin Daubney was scathing in his criticism of the trio's conduct.

"You were not a private police force, you were not some sort of paid militia," he said.

"You were there to provide security to the hotel and its patrons, not to dispense summary justice."

Mr Byrne criticised the "haphazard training" the bouncers had all appeared to have been given, and said Tepaukonui's conduct was "illustrative of the attitude of a number of the security providers that evening".

"(It) falls well short of what can and should be expected of those who are employed to provide security to patrons," Mr Byrne said.

"Their function is not to mete out summary punishment when confronted with factually provocative conduct."

Lombaard has already served seven months in pre-sentence custody while Legradi has served nine days.

- AAP