Clinton Menzies: Footy coach jailed over ‘vigilante’ attack on neighbour

A former Bendigo Auskick coach “lost it” after his son told him he’d been punched by a neighbour, bashing the man to a pulp.

A former Bendigo Auskick coach who bashed a neighbour in a “vigilante” attack after his young son was caught trespassing has been sentenced in court.

Clinton Menzies, 40, faced the County Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary and recklessly causing injury. 

The court heard his victim, Anthony Powers, was home alone on the night of September 18, 2020, when he heard a banging noise he thought sounded like “something” being thrown on his roof.

In the preceding weeks, he’d had a number of issues at his Rochester home with items being stolen from the front porch and “tapping” noises at the window.

He made the decision to hide outside in the dark – hoping to catch the culprit red-handed.

A short time later he saw two teenage boys enter his yard through a hedge and peer through a living room window.

Prosecutor Jordan O‘Toole told the court Mr Powers grabbed the boys yelling: “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

One of the two boys fell to the ground during the exchange, but Menzies’ 13-year-old son later told his dad he’d been punched in the face twice. 

Just after 8pm that night, Mr Powers heard a knock on the door and, assuming it was the police, answered it.

Instead standing on the porch was an irate Menzies holding a blue baseball bat. 

He dropped the bat at the front door, immediately pushing his way into the house and bashed Mr Powers, punching him to the face about 10 times as he tried to defend himself. 

“He’s only 13-years-old, you’ve given him a fat lip,” he yelled at the bloody man who was later diagnosed with multiple facial fractures.

“I didn’t hit him,” Mr Powers responded.

The court heard Mr Powers and Menzies were not known to each other prior to the attack, but Mr Powers had since suffered a “deep” impact to his mental health. 

In March and April the following year, a police wiretap of Menzies phone overheard him telling a mate: “He just hit two young boys, what do you want me to do. I went into his house and belted the c…”.

Defence lawyer Markorius Habib previously described his client as a “good, family man”, who worked hard and gave back to his small community.

“Aside from it being a vigilante act,” he said. “There’s a clear link between him believing his son’s been assaulted and losing it.”

He told the court the Rochester labourer was an active member of the community, frequently volunteering with basketball and football teams and had coached Auskick.

But Mr Menzies had recently relapsed into drug and alcohol use before the attack, after the death of his partner’s mother. 

Sentencing him, Judge Carolene Gwynn said Menzies clearly had issues controlling his anger.

“Your actions were retributive… you simply didn’t take the time to talk to Mr Powers,” she said. 

“I accept you were acting emotionally, but you are simply not entitled to take the law into your own hands."

Menzies was jailed for six months and will be placed on a two-year community corrections order once released with 175 hours of community service and mental health, drug and anger management courses.