Mitchell Alexander: Guilty of assaulting older victim who said he felt his ‘inner death’ after the assault

A Mildura thug pounded his older friend more than 30 times, before coldly washing the victim’s blood from his clothes in the shower.

A Mildura man who brutally assaulted his older neighbour, leaving him in a “pool of blood”, has avoided jail.

Mitchell Alexander, 32, pleaded guilty in the Mildura Magistrates Court on Wednesday to intentionally causing injury after he assaulted his neighbour in February.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order.

The court heard Alexander left his 58-year-old victim in a “pool of his own blood” fearing for his life.

The pair resided in opposite units, with the victim taking Alexander under his wing and was “supporting him” for some time before the incident.

On the night of the assault, the pair were sharing some drinks outside their units when the victim mentioned he was going to text a female friend about meeting up with her.

Alexander expressed his dissatisfaction with the victim contacting this female because he “didn’t want him to mess it up” the court heard.

The victim went inside his unit, so Alexander stole his phone and kept it in his back pocket. When the victim returned and asked where his phone was, the court heard Alexander denied having it despite gesturing to his pocket where the phone was.

The victim reached out to get his phone. Alexander tackled him to the ground, punching the man more than 30 times to the head and body.

Alexander left the victim lying on the ground and went back inside, where he tracked blood through his unit. The court heard that Alexander “showered with his clothes on” to “remove the blood”.

The victim needed stitches to his face with Magistrate Michael Coghlan saying he was “surprised” the injuries suffered weren’t worse.

“Looking at the photos I am very surprised that there were no fractures or more significant injuries,” he said.

The victim said he was “scared he wouldn’t be able to spend anymore time with his children” who had lost their mother four years ago.

“I literally thought I was dying. I could feel my inner death,” he said in a statement to court.

The court heard the victim has since moved as he could “smell blood” every time he returned home.

Alexander must complete 150 hours of unpaid community service and he was also ordered to pay $800 to the victim to cover the cost of the phone that was damaged in the assault.