Drunk steroid user Dale Lush facing jail after brutal assault that shattered the eye socket of a patron at the Salisbury Hotel

A steroid user downed 30 drinks before unleashing a savage, unprovoked attack that shattered the eye socket of a blameless hotel patron – see the attack on CCTV.

A steroid user downed 30 standard drinks at a northern suburbs pub before he unleashed a violent and unprovoked attack that shattered a stranger’s eye socket, a court has heard.

Dale Lush, 34, of Blakeview, punched the pub patron at the Salisbury Hotel in October 2020, before assaulting a security guard outside.

Vision from the attack shows Lush attacking the man inside the hotel and continuing to fight with his girlfriend at the entrance and in the carpark of the pub.

A security guard tried to intervene outside but was punched several times while trying to prevent Lush from attacking his partner.

In a victim impact statement read to the District Court, the victim described fearing for his life when he was punched “so hard that it shattered my eye socket”, which required surgery.

“The doctors ended up implanting an artificial eye socket a couple of weeks after the assault once the swelling went down,” the victim said in the statement.

“A year on from the assault, I still live with numbness under my left eye, cheek and the left side of my top lip.”

Security camera footage showing Dale Lush fighting with a patron, his partner and then a security guard at The Salisbury Hotel.

Security camera footage showing Dale Lush fighting with a patron, his partner and then a security guard at a northern suburbs hotel.

The victim also sustained damage to a wrist and his sinuses, causing breathing difficulties and frequent headaches, while the financial loss he suffered while recovering prevented him from starting his own business as planned.

“A person like this cannot be in our society and he needs to be punished for what he has done to me,” the victim said.

“I was keeping to myself when I was viciously attacked by him. I really feared for my life. I did nothing to provoke him and I struggled to understand why anyone would cause such a savage act and have no respect for human life.”

The court heard Lush, a father of three, had sat down for a meal and continued drinking at the hotel, where his then partner worked, before getting up and lashing out at the victim as he held his hands up and stepped backwards.

A social media photo of Dale Lush, who is before the court for an alcohol-fuelled attack at the Salisbury Hotel.

Security camera footage showing Dale Lush fighting with a patron, his partner and then a security guard at a northern suburbs hotel.

Lush pleaded guilty to charges of causing harm with intent and assault causing harm.

James Noblet, for Lush, said his client had only a “patchy” memory of the incident and when he saw CCTV footage of the attack was “horrified by what he saw”.

He said Lush was “very, very sorry for the damage that he occasioned on the victim and the suffering that has followed from that damage”.

Mr Noblet said Lush, who was taking steroids at the time, had “grossly overreacted” because he believed he heard someone make a derogatory remark.

Prosecutors rejected any suggestion the victim had made any comment.

Mr Noblet said Lush was taking steps to control his alcohol misuse and anger and urged Judge Ian Press to consider imposing a suspended sentence.

Clare Mingorance, prosecuting, said the vicious attack was unprovoked and an immediate prison sentence was warranted due to the “violent nature of the attack”.

Judge Press will sentence Lush next month.