Frankston Magistrates’ Court: Mathor Galuak violently beat up victims, had Maccas feast

A man who forced his victims to take off their clothes after a brutal assault in Mornington then used their stolen bank cards to order up a massive Maccas feast.

The accused went to Maccas after the attack.

A “mongrel” who violently beat up two young men, forced them to strip down to their underwear, took their phones and bank cards before feasting at a nearby McDonalds.

Mathor Galuak, 23, appeared via video link in the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to a string of charges including intentionally causing injury and robbery.

The court heard one of the victims had passed away since the offending from a cardiac arrest and his parents attended court on his behalf to face Galuak, who they called a “mongrel”.

“We are here for him,” the victim’s mother told the court.

“He doesn’t have a voice.”

On June 15, 2019 the victims, both in their 20s, were walking to the beach in Mornington in the early hours of the morning.

Galuak approached the victims and began accusing them of drugging a female friend of his.

Galuak then punched one of the victims to the cheek and yelled “you should hate yourselves”.

Galuak continued to kick and punch both the victims to their heads, faces, and ribs before rubbing the face of one of the victims in the dirt.

He then demanded the victims take off their clothes before they took their phones and wallets and one of the victim’s car keys.

The brutal attack was interrupted by a man who pulled up in his car, shining his headlights over the scene which caused Galuak to flee with the stolen property, including the pants of one of the victims.

After the attack Galuak attended a nearby McDonalds where he spent more than $100 on food with the stolen card.

In a victim impact statement read aloud in court from one of the victims, he described how the attack left him “scared to sleep” due to persistent and terrifying nightmares.

“It is not something that just leaves,” he said in the statement.

“When I saw my reflection I didn’t want to be out in public.”

The court heard Galuak was serving a County Court sentence of three and a half years with a non-parole period of 20 months for similar violent offending which occurred after this incident.

Galuak’s defence asked Magistrate Charles Tan to not extend Galuak’s time in jail and instead issue a concurrent sentence.

But Mr Tan said he felt the offending was “a trap” the victims had been “led” into, while Galuak’s defence said it was “an act of vigilantism”.

The court heard Galuak, from South Sudan, was “born into conflict” and his upbringing had led to the position Galuak was in now.

He will return to court for sentencing later this month.