Corey John Roberts pleaded guilty to robbery with personal violence

A violent brawl outside a Hervey Bay bank took place when a father of three attacked a family who was known to him, arming himself with a metal bat as others also jumped in on the altercation.

Corey John Roberts pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company, robbery using personal violence and dangerous operation of a vehicle when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this month.

Launching a violent attack on a family outside a Hervey Bay bank, a man first kicked the son and punched him while he was on the ground and then turned a metal bat on an older man.

Corey John Roberts pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company, robbery using personal violence and dangerous operation of a vehicle when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this month.

The court heard the incident, on June 2 last year, had involved two parents and their son who were known to Roberts.

Roberts was 31 years old at the time of the incident, the court was told, and was now 32.

About noon on June 2, the victims were in the car park outside the National Australia Bank in Urraween.

They had arrived in two vehicles, the court was told, with the mother in one vehicle and the father with his son and a friend of his son’s in another vehicle.

Roberts and a group were sitting in their vehicles in the same car park, the court heard.

As two of the victims left their vehicles, Roberts ran towards the son and kicked him in the back, causing him to fall to the ground then continuing to punch him.

Roberts was then confronted by the man’s father and he shaped up, while a co-offender allegedly came over to “back up” the defendant before they walked back towards their vehicles, the court heard.

The man suffered grazes to his knees and feet and had lower back pain where he had been kicked, the court was told.

As Roberts walked back to his car, the man’s mother began recording the defendant on her phone.

A co-offender yelled out to warn Roberts and he removed the front number plate off his vehicle before taking out an extendible metal bat out of his car.

He yelled at the woman to give him the phone, then instructed his co-offender to grab it before walking towards the woman and the man with the bat, striking the other man in the head once with the bat.

He fell to the ground with blood coming from his ear.

A female co-offender then allegedly tried to take the phone from the woman, taking her to the ground and hitting her multiple times while an unknown co-offender kicked her legs and head, forcing her to let go of the phone, the court heard

Roberts got back into his car with a co-offender and drove out of the car park at speed, narrowly missing the man who was still on the ground bleeding.

A co-accused then allegedly took a swing at the man on the ground, the court heard, then punched the man in the face causing him to fall down again.

Hervey Bay court. Photo: Tracey Joynson

The man was taken to the emergency department at Hervey Bay Hospital where he was treated for multiple skull fractures, bleeding from the inner ear and other injuries.

The woman was also treated for bruising to her upper body and a graze to her hand.

On June 11 last year, Roberts and his female co-accused were arrested together at an address in Urraween and he did not take part in an interview, the court heard.

The court was told Roberts had three children who had moved to Brisbane and he only got to see them sporadically.

Upon his release from custody he intended to live with his father in Maryborough or mother in Brisbane, the court heard.

His father was a mechanic and Roberts had done work on cars for his father before, the court was told.

Roberts had also worked for other mechanics in the past, the court heard.

About two years ago he had found himself “falling back into his old existing problems”, the court heard, including an anti-social peer group and drugs.

Much of his life had been “scarred” by the use of drugs, the court was told.

In respect to the offending, there had been some “ongoing issues” with the son of the family, but he accepted his behaviour was “completely inappropriate” in the way he dealt with the issues and the court heard he was remorseful.

Judge Michael Burnett said Roberts had attempted to undertake various courses while he had been in custody and both deterring his behaviour and community safety were to be considered.

He sentenced Roberts to a head sentence of three years in prison.

A parole eligibility date was set for October 7.

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