Cooper Sheldon-Elliot sentenced for Hectorville ‘revenge’ assault on man who slept with former partner

Crazed with jealousy, a man broke into a defenceless father’s home and bashed him senseless with a bat for five minutes - now he’s been sentenced.

A man who broke into a home and beat a father senseless with a baseball bat for five minutes after finding out the man was sleeping with his ex also threatened his children, a court has heard.

Cooper Sheldon-Elliot, 26, was sentenced on Friday for his “cowardly” actions that started when he brought a metal baseball bat to a Hectorville home and attacked the victim, while the man’s children were inside.

“By any measure, this was a brutal, severe and cowardly assault with a weapon on an unarmed and defenceless victim,” Justice Tim Stanley said.

“It was unprovoked in the sense that a civilised society cannot accept a vicious assault of this nature inflicted on another, because that person may have commenced a sexual relationship with a former partner.

“This cannot be considered a provocation that in some way mitigates the seriousness of the offending.”

The court heard Sheldon-Elliot’s on-again, off-again relationship with a romantic partner had broken down, and she had gone to live with her friend – the victim of the offending - and his children.

The woman told Sheldon-Elliot she had sex with her friend in an effort to get over him, which caused him to become “extremely upset” and “brooded” before planning to “exact revenge”.

Justice Stanley said the Blakeview man then sent messages to the man and his ex, telling the victim, “I’m going to cave your head in”.

The court heard Sheldon-Elliot told his former partner “I f**king told (the victim) I will f**king take him out, I’ll take his kids out … now your little lover boy is going to cop it.”

The assault inside the Hectorville granny flat lasted five minutes, involved roughly 30 blows to the head and only ceased when the victim “played dead”.

“You told him that he was going to ‘die on the floor’,” Justice Stanley said.

The victim suffered extensive bruising to the upper back and neck and required surgery to treat damage to his hands – which he used to shield his head – lacerations to his scalp and eyebrow, along with an open nasal bone fracture.

Sheldon-Elliot pleaded guilty to one count of causing harm with an intent to cause harm, and one count of aggravated serious criminal trespass.

Counsel for Sheldon-Elliot submitted their client’s diagnosed bipolar disorder and ADHD would have contributed to his sense of abandonment being triggered.

Justice Stanley accepted Sheldon-Elliot’s psychological issues and difficulties regulating emotions would make him less criminally culpable than someone without those issues.

Justice Stanley sentenced Sheldon-Elliot to six years in jail, with three years and six months non-parole.

The sentence was backdated to May 12, 2024, meaning he will be eligible for parole in November 2027.