David Drennan jailed after attacking man with a hammer over rubbish dispute

A thug took pictures of his bloodied neighbour after fracturing his skull with a hammer and accused him of being a pedophile during a horrific attack.

Wodonga man David Peter Drennan has been sent to jail for attacking his neighbour with a hammer during a rubbish dispute.

An intoxicated man fractured his neighbour’s skull with a hammer in a vile attack over a rubbish disagreement, before taking pictures of his victim covered in blood.

David Peter Drennan, 38, of Wodonga was sentenced at the Victorian County Court on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to one charge of intentionally causing serious injury.

Court documents revealed Drennan and the victim resided in the same block of flats on Quirk Court in Wodonga where the attack happened in the early hours of February 16, 2022.

The court heard Drennan and a friend Shana Hogan consumed 14 and 10 beers each respectively before the hammer attack.

The victim of a horrific hammer attack by David Peter Drennan was airlifted to The Royal Melbourne with serious injuries.

After an argument broke out between Drennan and his neighbour over rubbish, Hogan fetched Drennan a hammer who approached the victim and said he would “ cave your skull in like a dog”

But when the victim — who armed himself with a piece of timber — slipped over and fell to the ground Drennan got on top of him, repeatedly striking his head with the hammer

He then accused the victim of raping a four-year-old girl and said “I should’a (sic) killed you months ago. You’re safe as long as you don’t call the police”.

When Hogan tried to stop him and asked him to call an ambulance, Drennan struck the victim with the hammer and said “The dog doesn’t deserve an ambo. I’m allowed to do this”.

Drennan then started taking pictures while Hogan held the bloodied victim’s head up by his hair while he was barely conscious and bleeding heavily.

Drennan told him to “smile c--t” and when the victim didn’t respond, he hit him again with the hammer, telling him “smile c--t or I’ll kill you”.

The victim spent three days at The Royal Melbourne and suffered a number of injuries, including skull and rib fractures.

“This was a brutal and vicious attack on a defenceless man,” Judge Michael Bourke said.

Hogan was earlier sentenced to 197 days’ imprisonment for her part in the attack.

On Friday Drennan was sentenced to eight years behind bars with a minimum five years non-parole.