Kade McHenry faces prison for allegedly beating up Ballarat stranger in public

A 49-year-old man was allegedly beaten to the ground while walking home from a Ballarat supermarket because he looked at a “hot rod” driving past.

Kade McHenry may be jailed after he attacked two people. Picture: iStock

A Ballarat man may be jailed for allegedly committing two violent attacks in public within about a month.

Kade McHenry, 27, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury.

The court heard a 49-year-old man was walking home from the Miners Rest IGA on December 20, 2022, when he heard a “hot rod” start and turned to watch it drive past.

McHenry is alleged to have accosted the man, asking, “What the f--k are you looking at?”

“I’m just looking at the hot rod,” the man said.

McHenry allegedly crossed the road and attacked him, with the victim falling to the ground in the foetal position.

The court heard the 27-year-old began choking the man but witnesses intervened.

He later apologised but left after being told the police had been called.

The victim suffered bruised ribs, cuts and scrapes to his elbow, knee, and nose, and a black eye.

Then, on the afternoon of January 21, McHenry allegedly entered a bar on Sturt St, walked up behind a man and punched him in the face.

The man was knocked off his stool, lost consciousness and was bleeding from the mouth.

Witnesses intervened and McHenry was escorted from the premises.

When McHenry was arrested for the hot rod incident, he claimed to have no recollection of the assault despite being filmed at the scene.

He made no comment when interviewed in March about the occurrence at the bar.

But on Thursday the court heard McHenry was assaulted himself in 2021 and believed that his victim at the bar was involved in that event.

The prosecutor called his alleged behaviour “thuggery”.

“The community is terrified of people like this,” he said.

He was said to have been “routinely, violently abused” during his upbringing, took drugs when he was as young as nine, and had been diagnosed with PTSD.

McHenry said he understood the alleged offending could warrant jail time but his life had recently stabilised with regard to work and accommodation.

“The position I’m in now really seems like the best shot I’ve had to completely change my life,” he said.

He will return to court in October.