Brad Raymond Bennett faces Warwick Magistrates Court for bashing an 18-year-old
A Darling Downs dad has ended up in court after bashing a young man so severely he was hospitalised, with a court told the shocking reason behind the offending.
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A bizarre misunderstanding which led to a Darling Downs man assaulting an 18-year-old in the middle of the night has been revealed.
Brad Raymond Bennett pleaded guilty in Warwick Magistrates Court on August 23 to assault occasioning bodily harm, possessing used drug utensils, as well as possessing a category M weapon.
In the early hours of March 5, at Allora, the court was told Bennett received word that a woman had been approached by the 18-year-old male and two juveniles.
Defence lawyer Phillip Crook said the woman was “scared”, leading Bennett to run out of his house and confront the trio.
The two juveniles got away, while Bennett caught up to the 18-year-old, grabbing him and striking him in the jaw, to which he was “remorseful”.
Bennett “realised after he hit him, that he was only around 18, so didn’t proceed anymore” and didn’t realise the man had suffered a concussion which led to the victim’s hospitalisation.
Days later on March 7, police searched Bennett’s home and found a restricted flick knife, to which Bennett said he had been a “collector of knives since a child”.
The search also revealed a cone piece and water pipe used to smoke drugs.
It was revealed in 2018, Bennett was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, and immediately released, for violent offending including two charges of assault occasioning bodily harm, in Ipswich District Court.
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess labelled Bennett’s prior offending as a “concern” but noted there was nothing listed in his history since that offending.
“Nevertheless, acts of violence cannot be tolerated, whether you were thinking you were acting in the aid of the woman, you would have been better off assisting her than chasing three people up the road,” Ms Sturgess said.
“That really was unnecessary in the circumstances and didn’t need to be done to defend her, there were other ways to deal with this and go to her assistance that wasn’t chasing these people down the road and assaulting one of them.”
For the assault charge Bennett was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, suspended for nine months. For the two possession charges, he received a $400 fine with the items forfeited.
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