A MAN who claimed he was God and was told to “strike everyone down” before brutally punching his father in the head multiple times has been jailed.
The offender, who resided in the area but can’t be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to two charges of making a threat to kill and single charges of intentionally damaging property, aggravated burglary, and causing injury intentionally.
Judge Martine Marich told the County Court the victims were his parents, and the offending happened against a backdrop of family violence intervention orders.
The court heard the then 28-year-old entered his parents’ property on December 28, 2022, and approached his mother who was sitting on a chair in the garden.
“The prosecution alleges that you approached her and stood over her, putting your face up close to hers,” Judge Marich said in sentencing on June 26.
“You then screamed at her stating, ‘I am God you know … when I was 12, I prayed to the gangster gods, and they blessed me so now I’m going to be in a gang and we’re going to come back and kill you’.”
The next day, he returned carrying 12 bottles of beer and sat outside.
“(Your mother) has told police that on multiple occasions she went out and asked you to leave due to your behaviour the previous day,” Judge Marich said.
“You refused to leave, and sat drinking alcohol for several hours.”
The offender left before returning a third time, and banged on the door at 9pm.
“Your father answered the door and told you to leave, and went to push the door shut, however, you pushed the door open and entered the home,” Judge Marich said.
“An argument occurred, and your father yelled at you to leave, and he was able to shut and lock the front door.
“You smashed the window … and climbed into the lounge room, knocking over the television.
“Your mother heard the yelling and glass smashing, but remained in her bedroom, as she was very frightened.
“You grabbed your father and threw him to the ground, and he hit a table on the way down.
“You then yelled at your father, ‘I’m going to kill you, you bastard. I’m gunna kill ya’.”
As his father got off the ground, he picked up a metal statue and attempted to hit his son in self- defence, before the offender moved towards knives.
The offender’s mother screamed and said, “Don’t, don’t, please. Don’t kill Dad, please, don’t.”
Her son grabbed the statue off his father before throwing him onto the ground where he laid in a foetal position.
“You then punched him at least four or five times to the head using your fists, causing a large, jagged laceration to the left side of his head requiring 13 staples, a linear laceration to the right side of his scalp requiring three staples, bruising to his right temple, cuts to his forehead and an acute nasal bone fracture to his nose, which caused bleeding,” Justice Marich said.
“You yelled, ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’m here to protect you’ …
“Your mother grabbed a pepper grinder and began hitting you with it.
“Your father crawled out and threw his telephone to your mother, and instructed her to call 000.
“Your mother ran outside to the front of the house and began calling out for help, and she raised a neighbour.
“The neighbour told your parents to get inside her house.
“She later told police that you were screaming, yelling out that you were God and that God had told you to ‘strike everyone down’.”
The offender later told police he hadn’t slept in three days.
When asked why he assaulted his father, he told police, “Cos (sic) I’ve always wanted to punch him, so many times.”
“You told police that you were affected by drugs of dependence at the time of the incident, that is,
under the effect of marijuana, and you did have ice three days before that,” Judge Marich said.
“You denied being under the influence of ice at the time, though, telling police you were ‘a bit drunk’.”
In her victim impact statement, the offender’s mother said the “grief comes from a knot in my stomach where I feel like crying all the time”.
“My sleeping patterns are all over the place,” she said.
“I stay up late and sleep in. I’m exhausted all day from thinking.
“I have nightmares all the time of the incident … in general.
“I have lost motivation for housework and only do what must be done.”
The offender’s father said it hurt to think of the things he did as father-son – fishing and hunting.
“I’m not sleeping,” he said.
“If I hear any bangs, I am alert and scared, worried he is back and breaking in through a window. I feel I have no protection.
“I feel anxious all the time.
“I’m always looking over my shoulder.
“I suffered a head injury where I had staples on my left and right side of my head.
“The pain and the headaches, it just won’t go away. If I bend over, I get dizzy.”
Judge Marich said the offending had a lasting impact on his parents.
“It has left them with a legacy of trauma, as well as the physical effects that you have caused your father,” she said.
“This is a serious example of aggravated burglary, and it is also a serious example of the offence of causing injury intentionally, having regard to the injuries which resulted, and the fact that the injury was caused to your father in the privacy of his own home.”
The offender was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, followed by a two-year community corrections order.
