Man jailed for headbutting elderly friend

An elderly Lawrence man welcomed his 49-year-old friend of seven years into his home, and less than a week later became the victim of a violent assault in a drunken incident

ELDER ABUSE: The Federal Government has released its highly anticipated National Plan to Respond to the Abuse of Older Australians.

A Lawrence man was given a roof over his head when he fell on hard times, and less than a week later violently assaulted his elderly friend, a court has heard.

Dale John Kennedy, 49, appeared before Grafton Local Court last week where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and destroy/damage property.

According to court documents, the elderly victim was residing alone in Lawrence, and had known Kennedy for about seven years when in November last year Kennedy contacted him to ask he could come and stay.

The court heard Kennedy arrived on November 6, 2020. Court documents state that the victim was aware that Kennedy could become violent when he was drunk, and only allowed Kennedy to drink four mid strength beers while he was staying with him.

At about 8am on November 13 Kennedy left the premises on foot and returned about 4pm that same day. The victim told police he was immediately aware that Kennedy was intoxicated and brought with him more alcohol to the property.

The court heard later that evening Kennedy was walking past the victim's bedroom door, when he began shadow boxing, then punched the door, causing a hole in the front of the door, forcing the door to swing open and cause more damage to the wall.

About 6pm the same day the victim was sitting in his chair when Kennedy walked up to him and tried to lift the victim out of his chair. The victim resisted and said he didn't want to get up. Kennedy then lurched forward and head butted the victim, and a wound started to bleed above his eye.

Court documents state that about 5.45am the next day the victim woke up, and still fearful of Kennedy, walked out the front of his property and flagged down a passing driver to call triple-0.

About 7.15am police arrived and told by the victim that Kennedy was still inside the premises, where he was found and arrested.

Magistrate Jeff Linden convicted Kennedy and sentenced him to 12 months behind bars, backdated from November 15, 2020 with a non-parole period of three months, five days.

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