Corio man James Mapapalangi assaulted sister’s attacker with shovel

A Corio man got revenge on his sister’s abuser by violently beating him with a shovel, a court has heard.

Corio man James Mapapalangi violently beat his sister's abuser with a shovel.

A Corio man “took the law into his own hands” when he rushed to his sister’s rescue and viciously beat her abuser with a shovel.

After getting a troubled phone call from his nephew, James Mapapalangi, 42, jumped into his car and drove to his sister’s house to help assault a man who had pinned her to a wall.

Mapapalangi pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally causing injury in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and was handed a conviction and a hefty $3000 fine.

The court heard the victim was highly intoxicated on a mixture of whisky and milk and became violent with Mapapalangi’s sister when she asked him to save some of the milk for the next morning.

The man grabbed her by the throat, pinned her against the wall and put her in a headlock in view of her young, teenage son.

He left the house after throwing a rock through one of the windows.

When Mapapalangi’s sister saw that glass shards had landed on her young daughter, she pursued the man outside just as Mapapalangi drove up to the house and jumped out with a shovel in his hands.

Mapapalangi swung at the man with the shovel, grazing his shoulder, while his sister punched him six times to the head and face.

Mapapalangi struck the man with the shovel several times, landing about 15 blows to his legs, back, torso and arms.

His lawyer, Nikhil Sood, said Mapapalangi is “extremely protective” of his younger sister but he made a mistake taking the shovel with him and thinking he “could handle the situation by himself”.

James Mapapalangi was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around the time of the shovel assault.

Mr Sood added Mapapalangi has since been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has recently been hospitalised as a result.

Prosecutor Rebecca Gersden said she understood Mapapalangi’s health issues, but said he had “chosen to intervene and use a shovel”.

Magistrate Peter Mellas agreed, telling Mapapalangi he was fortunate to only be facing one charge.

“The behaviour of the victim in this case isn’t to be excused and quite clearly he has a history involving violence.

“The difficulty with this situation is you had time to think about another way of approaching it,” Mr Mellas said.

“From the time you got into the car, to the time you got to the house, to the time it was clear the victim was on the ground helpless.”

Mr Mellas said the “very fact you armed yourself” was clear Mapapalangi had the intention of causing harm.

“This is an example of someone taking the law into their own hands and exacting retribution on someone who they felt had done the wrong thing …(and) quite clearly, what you did was way in excess.”

Originally published as Corio man James Mapapalangi assaulted sister’s attacker with shovel