An unlicensed dirt-bike rider who punched and broke a 69-year-old victim’s jaw, nose and eye-socket in Cranbourne Lions Park has been spared jail.
Corey Hadow, 26, was found guilty by a County Court of Victoria jury of intentionally causing injury.
Hadow was, however, found not guilty of four other charges including intentionally causing serious injury.
As a result of the blows on 7 February 2019, the victim was treated at The Alfred hospital for six days.
In sentencing on 28 November, judge Peter Lauritsen said the jury must have found the injury was not serious “in the sense required by the law”.
Nor must it have accepted a forensic physician’s opinion of the “potential consequences”, or the victim’s alleged loss of taste and smell.
The jury seemed to accept the statements of a witness who was working at Cranbourne Community House and saw the punches, the judge noted.
According to the witness, he went outside and saw the victim on the ground with an approaching Hadow yelling abuse.
The victim tried to stand up when Hadow punched him three or four times to the face.
It was seemingly sparked by a road-rage incident, according to a prosecution statement.
The victim – who had just picked up his granddaughter from school – claimed an unhelmeted Hadow cut him off and “extended his middle finger” towards him on Clarendon Street.
He followed Hadow’s motorcycle to the park where he was later assaulted.
Judge Lauritsen said the jury must have rejected parts of the victim and his granddaughter’s evidence and treated other parts with caution.
A witness stated they saw the victim’s 4WD chasing close behind Hadow’s motorbike on Cranbourne Drive.
They say Hadow stopped at a give-way intersection and was nearly struck by the 4WD which went “straight through”.
The 4WD reportedly almost clipped Hadow as he gave way at another intersection.
Hadow’s behaviour was a “significant example” of intentionally causing injury, Judge Lauritsen said.
His culpability was high given the extent of the victim’s injuries and that the jury rejected his claim of self-defence.
Judge Lauritsen noted Hadow worked hard as a concrete pumper, who had previously contravened a community corrections order.
Hadow pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous article, unlicensed driving and driving an unregistered vehicle. He was found guilty of failing to wear a helmet.
A prosecutor submitted for combined jail and a CCO, while Hadow’s lawyer argued for a CCO only.
Corrections Victoria twice found Hadow unsuitable for a CCO.
Judge Lauritsen sentenced him to a 12-month community corrections order with 200 hours of unpaid work and treatment.
He was also fined $700.
