Former Redland City Council worker Daniel Joshua Kerswell sentenced for violent home invasion

An Ipswich man callously stole a TV and other goods from a woman while her father was savagely beating her at her home, a court has heard.

An Ipswich man has been sentenced for stealing a TV while a former co-worker bashed a girl. Picture: FILE

A former Redland City Council worker has been sentenced after watching a co-worker beat up his daughter in a brutal home invasion.

Daniel Joshua Kerswell, 28, was charged with one count of burglary, one count of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed or in company and one count of possessing utensils or pipes that had been used.

The South Ripley man pleaded guilty to all three charges at Ipswich Magistrates Court on Thursday, June 27.

Police were called to the victim’s address in Leichhardt at 1am on March 26 and found her injured, the court heard.

She had suffered significant injuries to her face and bruising and cuts on other parts of her body.

The court heard that she was asleep before the bashing took place.

A co-offender, the father of the victim, punched her multiple times in the head, causing large bruising to the right side of her face, her right ear and the back of her head, the court heard.

After she fell to the ground the man continued slamming her face on the floor, causing facial injuries.

He then restricted her breathing by placing his hand over her nose and mouth, causing her to panic, the court was told.

While the assault was occurring, Kerswell took a television out of the house and attempted to steal a barbecue from the front veranda.

The two men fled the scene in a car which was later intercepted by police.

The court was told that the incident happened as the co-offender, who is a colleague of Kerswell, asked him “to collect some property”.

The court was told Mr Kerswell had literacy issues and started using cannabis and methamphetamine when he was 13 and 19, respectively.

But his lawyer told the court he landed jobs in furniture removal and also at Redland City Council following a traineeship. The lawyer said he no longer worked at the council.

Magistrate Robert Walker said Kerswell was guilty as a party to the bashing.

“It seems that you may not have known at the outset the entirety of what he (the co-accused) intended or was about to do,” he said.

“But you’re equally responsible for all that occurred, including the significant violence.”

He sentenced Mr Kerswell to 18 months’ jail but declared his 93 days in pre-custody as time served.

Convictions were recorded.