Bradley Thomas Kelly: Former housemate commits vicious assault at Red Cliffs

They were once housemates. But a dispute over some property ended with a Mildura man dishing out a brutal beating.

A man entered his former house and punched his victim, a court has heard.

A dispute between former Mildura housemates ended up with one man bruised, battered and “spitting out blood for a week”.

Red Cliffs fabricator Bradley Thomas Kelly, 41, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary and intentionally causing injury at the Mildura County Court on Thursday.

Prosecutor Deanna Caruso told the court Kelly on May 9 last year went to a Red Cliffs address where he had previously lived.

Some of Kelly’s belonging were still being stored at the property.

A friend, also named Bradley Kelly but who is known as “Plugger”, attended but remained in his vehicle.

The Kelly who appeared before the court went to the garage and noticed some of his items were damaged.

When the man Kelly had previously lived with as a tenant and a new tenant returned to the property from the supermarket, Kelly approached the man.

Kelly became aggressive about damage to his trailer but walked back to the car he arrived in.

Minutes later, he knocked on the door, after which an argument started about money owed and the trailer.

Kelly then became enraged, screaming at his victim and entering the home, damaging the front door in the process.

The victim was punched in the nose and then driven into a wall.

Kelly punched his victim for what “felt like one to two minutes”.

He then returned to the vehicle, telling his friend: “I think I f***ed up.”

When police arrived they found blood across the property, with the victim suffering a fractured nose and right cheek, a black eye and soreness throughout his face and mouth.

In a victim impact statement, the man said he was “spitting out blood for a week”.

Defence counsel Tim Sullivan said his client had been trying to arrange for collection of personal items and there had been “awkward negotiations” about the amount Kelly would pay for the storage.

Mr Sullivan said Kelly did not go to the property with the intention of offending, but was upset about the condition of his belongings and lost control.

The court heard Kelly was “very sorry” to both his victim and the other tenant and he had received assistance for drug and mental health problems since the incident.

Judge Gerard Mullaly asked for mental health and drug and alcohol assessments to take place before the matter is heard for sentencing on April 22.

Kelly’s bail was revoked and he was taken into custody.