Woman witnessed Travers brothers kicking and beating Peter Hoffman before he was fatally stabbed
A woman who witnessed a man kicking a homeless man’s car while screaming at him to get out believed a second man who ran to the car was trying to stop the attack but, instead, he helped drag the elderly man from his car and beat him, a court heard.
NSW
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A chef who witnessed a man say “open the f---ing door” as he banged on, then kicked, an elderly homeless man’s car thought a second man was running over to stop the attack, a court heard on Tuesday.
But Amanda Ganzer told the NSW Supreme Court she instead saw him join in on hitting the vehicle before the pair dragged the old man out onto the Maroubra road.
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“I was trying to look for my phone in my bag … somehow the car door has opened and the young first man dragged the old man out of the car by the shoulders and the second man helped by dragging him out by his waist,” she said.
“They were kicking him and hitting him.” Ms Ganzer was giving evidence at the trial of brothers Ray Travers, 22, and Jacksun Travers, 20, who have pleaded not guilty to murdering Peter Hofmann, 68, in 2017.
The retired bus driver, dubbed “Mr Lonely”, was sleeping rough in his car for months before he was fatally stabbed — a knife blade left lodged in his chin.
Ms Ganzer said she was walking home from work when she passed an elderly man sleeping in a white car.
She then passed a young man who made his way towards the parked car.
The man knocked on the driver’s side window and said “hey mate” in a “normal” way.
She then heard a loud bang and when she turned around saw the man banging on the windows quite aggressively, saying “open the f---ing door”.
As he kicked the door, she said she saw another young man cross the road.
“I thought he was going to help the man in the car,” Ms Ganzer said.
But the second man joined in the attack with Mr Hoffman punched in the head and kicked repeatedly.
“I could hear him crying,” Ms Ganzer said.
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