Steroid using tradie Will Warren sentenced for drugs, bashing old man’s car

A steroid abusing tradie who tried to attack an elderly man after smashing up his car with a baseball bat has been blasted by a judge over his ‘shameful’ behaviour.

A steroid abusing tradie who tried to attack an elderly man after smashing up his car with a baseball bat has been blasted by a judge over his “shameful” behaviour.

Will Warren, 22, narrowly avoided being jailed over the year-long spate of offending in which he was also caught in possession of cocaine for commercial purposes while on bail for other drug offences.

Security footage of a shirtless Warren using a baseball bat to shatter the windscreen and passenger window of the 72-year-old man’s sedan outside a Logan grocery store in November 2020 was played in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

In sentencing Warren on Thursday, Justice Elizabeth Wilson said the video showed what a “frightening experience” the then-20-year-old had inflicted on the complainant more than 50 years his senior.

“Words cannot adequately describe your conduct on that day but the video that I have seen and that you have seen bears all,” she said.

Will Warren leaving Brisbane Supreme Court where he faced sentence for drug charges and wilful damage. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I hope that when you watched that here on Monday that you felt extreme shame for your behaviour.”

“No person needs to go through that amount of sheer violence that you committed on that car … and you were trying to get into that car.”

The court heard the elderly man had called out Warren’s passenger for littering and when the woman refused to take the discarded rubbish, he placed it on the bonnet of the car.

Warren drove away and returned 10 minutes late, leaping out of his Mercedes sedan, taking a baseball bat from the back seat and raining blows on the elderly man’s car before trying to get inside.

“I do not accept there was a confrontation, putting rubbish on a window after it has been thrown out of a car is not a confrontation,” Justice Wilson said.

“The complainant in my view did nothing wrong or provocative.

“Thank goodness the complainant had locked his door because I shudder to think what would have happened if your attempt to open the door was successful.”

The court heard Warren had been using steroids daily during the period of the attack.

Two weeks later, police raided Warren’s home where they found quantities of a number of drugs including ice and steroids.

Will Warren (right) leaves the Supreme Court in Brisbane. He was sentenced for viciously smashing an elderly man’s car with a baseball bat. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

He was arrested and spent 45 days in custody before being released on Supreme Court bail into a three-month residential rehabilitation program.

But months after his release and while still on bail in November 2021, Warren was again caught in possession of cocaine for commercial use.

Warren was given a head sentence of three years’ imprisonment with immediate parole, taking into account the 45 days he had already spent in custody.

He was ordered to pay his victim $1000 in compensation for the month-long loss of his car while it was repaired by his insurer.

Warren pleaded guilty to ten offences including five counts of possessing dangerous drugs and single charges of wilful damage and attempted unlawful entry of a motor vehicle.