Family feuds: Blood battles that ended up in southeast courts
While many treat family with respect and care, others take out their anger on those who they are meant to love the most.
South East
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Sadly in our society there are some thugs who think it is okay to wreak havoc in their family homes, meting out brutish behaviour on their mum, dad, sister, brother or any relative who crosses their path.
SADISTIC SON SLOTTED
An ice-addled brute violently attacked his nearest and dearest, punching his dad, dragging his mum by her hair and burning his girlfriend.
Clinton James Bellette smacked his father in an argument over puppies and assaulted his mother after a disagreement at her house.
The Seaford thug also headbutted, bit and knocked his partner onto a hot stove when she called him out for being a bad dad after he had fallen asleep in a drug-induced lethargy while he was meant to be looking after their child.
The thug was with his father at his Cranbourne home when he started a fight over dogs, punching his dad in the face and only stopping the assault when his sister and her partner restrained him.
And then he was staying at his mother’s Frankston house when he threw a cigarette lighter at her, grabbed her by the hair and repeatedly punched her in the face before she managed to escape and be rescued by neighbours.
His defence lawyer said he “fell into drug use to numb the pain” after a workplace accident, and combined with heavy drinking, he struggled to “maintain a sober life”.
The magistrate said the community must be protected from his behaviour and jailed him for 18 months.
UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY
An unemployed plasterer who got plastered at his mum’s birthday took out his alcohol-fuelled anger on his 19-year-old nephew, stomping on the teen’s head.
Daniel Allan Dyball attacked his relative at his mother’s Botanic Ridge house because he was upset and hurt that his stepdad didn’t want to have a drink with him.
When the nephew tried to calm him down he got battered in the face by the felon’s fists, falling to the ground.
The sozzled sadist then stomped on his nephew’s face twice and kicked him as he lay there bleeding.
Even then he was not done, kicking his stepdad while the family waited for an ambulance for the nephew.
His defence lawyer said his client accepted he had gone too far due to his intoxicated state.
The magistrate said he had seriously overreacted in a “cowardly” and “very troubling” way.
“You could break someone’s skull, and they can die, or become paralysed, it was very dangerous behaviour.”
He was jailed for four months.
FAKE DRUGS, REAL ANGER
A teenage toker hurled abuse at his mum and smashed up her house after getting high on the phony supply.
Dylan Osman had smoked synthetic weed before losing his head, harassing and abusing his mother and causing damage all around their Patterson Lakes home.
He smashed windows with rocks and bashed walls with his fists after she questioned him as to why he was dabbling in the designer drug.
His defence lawyer said it “did all sorts of things to him”.
“He got in with a wrong group of associates and started using drugs to escape reality, and synthetic marijuana was his drug of choice.”
The magistrate said it was “outrageous behaviour” but a lack of prior crimes and the fact he had already sought rehabilitation were factors in his favour.
He was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and must undergo a men’s behavioural change program.
No conviction was recorded.
CIGGIE STOUSH
A bad brother who ran out of smokes took his rage out on his family, laying into his mother and smacking his sister more than 20 times.
Tyler Cox had also punched his mum and pulled her hair a few months before in a separate violent assault.
He was at the family home when he demanded cigarettes and money from his mother, but she refused to give him anything so he swore at and abused her.
His sister heard the commotion and came out of her room to see what was happening, only to be met by a barrage of blows.
He punched her in the face and body 20 to 25 times, then turned back to his mum and hit her as well.
This wasn’t his first family fight.
In another assault his mum was sitting on her bed when he approached her, grabbed her hair and struck her to her face four or five times.
She suffered bruising to her cheek and blacked out momentarily in the unprovoked bashing.
His defence lawyer said he had a history of drug-induced psychosis and was not well at the time.
The magistrate said there was “absolutely no excuse” for the assaults and jailed him for eight months.
‘NOT MY FINEST DAY’
A sozzled son spat on, pushed and abused his parents in a stoush over a PlayStation game.
Michael John Ewin was still living with his mum and dad in their Cranbourne home when the console chaos erupted.
The concreter was at the house when there was a disagreement with a nephew over a video game and his mum came in to see what the fuss was about.
He threatened and screamed obscenities at her, abused his dad, calling him a “weak dog” for phoning the police, and pushed him out of his own home.
He then went up to his mum and stood over her, pretending to headbutt her before spitting in her face.
He defended himself in court, saying he had been drinking and was ashamed of his actions.
“It was not my finest day,” Ewin said.
The magistrate said that was “absolutely no way to behave towards anyone, let alone your parents”.
“Don’t ever act in that way again.”
He was convicted and fined $1500.
SELFISH SON
A mad motorist who crashed his car after a sibling spat then demanded his mother come to his rescue.
Thomas Cope had been driving because he was angry and “pissed off” after fighting with his brother and had jumped behind the wheel — even though he was suspended at the time — to let off steam.
The unlicensed P-plater pranged his car in the middle of the night on a wet hills road in Clematis and just left it there, wrecked, in the centre of the street.
But instead of calling the police or a towie the selfish son simply walked off and rang his mum to demand she come and collect him, and drive him the 39km back to their Skye home.
When she had returned him to the safety of their house, he then sent her back to the crash scene to make sure his car was safely towed away.
His defence lawyer said he did have “drug demons” but wasn’t using ice anymore.
He was given a 12-month good behaviour bond with drug treatment, and told to do a road trauma course and complete a behavioural change program.
