Caleb George Murphy: Man’s jail sentence over brutal broad daylight attack

A father who unleashed a violent assault on another man in the middle of a quiet Burnett street has claimed in court that his victim trashed his home and neglected his dogs while house-sitting.

A man has faced court after viciously assaulting another man in the middle of a usually quiet Burnett street, repeatedly punching his victim in the head and unleashing further violence on the man’s vehicle.

Kingaroy Magistrates Court heard Caleb George Murphy became enraged when he returned home from a three-day trip to attend a funeral in 2020, claiming he found his house “trashed” and his beloved dog separated from her newborn puppies.

The man supposed to be caring for Murphy’s dogs was reportedly nowhere to be found at the time, with Murphy not running across the other man again until July 25, 2020.

The 24-year-old spotted the man on Toomey St in Yarraman, “speed-walking” towards his victim and calling out, “Hey, you c--ksucker” before suddenly attacking him.

Police prosecutor Lisa Manns told the court Murphy grabbed the victim’s beanie off his head and began punching him repeatedly and yanking on his hair, then ripped the wing mirror from his nearby car and used it to cause further damage to the vehicle.

As the other man got back in his car to escape his attacker, Murphy told him, “Every time I see you, I’m going to do the same thing.”

The victim was left with a concussion and the entire assault was captured on CCTV.

Police raided Murphy’s home soon after the incident but were unable to locate him, not tracking him down until they searched a Clontarf home in April this year.

Officers initially spoke to Murphy’s partner, who said she did not know where he was and had not seen him in years, but Murphy was quickly spotted hiding around the side of the house before running inside and trying unsuccessfully to conceal himself under a bed.

The Kingaroy court was told Murphy was also busted with 13.7g marijuana at his Clontarf home, and had also been charged with evading police in Narangba in 2019.

Defence lawyer Alan Korobacz said his client had changed his life in the two years since the assault, gaining employment as an apprentice bricklayer and focusing on rehabilitation.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair commended Murphy for largely staying out of trouble since the assault, but warned there was no excuse for such violence.

“While you may have been provoked by what happened to your dogs, you simply can‘t go around taking it out on other people by violent punches to the head,” he said.

Murphy pleaded guilty to one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm, wilful damage, evading police, and possessing dangerous drugs.

He was sentenced to six months’ jail, wholly suspended for six months.