Reece Sleeth punched and dragged stranger outside North Bendigo home

A man, who was minding his own business, was pummelled in an unprovoked assault outside the attacker’s North Bendigo home.

A North Bendigo man beat and dragged a stranger to the ground in a frenzied, unprovoked attack outside his home.

Reece Sleeth appeared at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court last month and pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury to a stranger outside his North Bendigo home.

The court heard the then 27-year-old man saw a stranger park his white ute near his house on November 1, 2018.

The man was waiting on the bonnet of his vehicle to meet a neighbour, when Sleeth approached.

Sleeth asked the man what he was doing, but before the victim could respond Sleeth started swinging punches.

Sleeth punched the man before grabbing the victim’s leg and dragging him to the ground.

There he continued to pummel him.

The court heard the entire assault was captured by CCTV cameras.

Magistrate Russell Kelly said the only redeeming fact in the attack was “there was no breaking of the skin or broken bones”.

Sleeth’s victim was left with large bruises and swelling to his face and was taken to Bendigo Health.

The man later identified the stranger who attacked him on a police photo board.

Sleeth was also busted drug driving twice in eight days in November 2020.

The court heard Sleeth told police officers he didn’t “give a f — k” after he failed a roadside drug test on November 5, 2020.

Eight days later Sleeth was found slumped over his wheel, barely conscious, while his car was still running at a Kangaroo Flat intersection.

He was placed in handcuffs as police searched his vehicle, where they found two vials of GHB and a syringe.

Sleeth’s lawyer said there had been a significant delay in the two-year-old assault charge, and pressed that his young client had a positive chance of rehabilitation.

Sleeth pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury, drugs and driving charges on Wednesday April 14.

Mr Kelly sentenced Sleeth to a community corrections order, with a specific focus on mental health, drug use and anger management.