Thug could have killed stranger in Dandenong station shovel attack
A brute so violent he’s separated from jail inmates went on a rampage, bashing a stranger with a shovel at Dandenong station.
South East
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A vicious thug who smashed a stranger in the face with a shovel had only been out of jail for two weeks when he launched the “potentially fatal” attack, a court has heard.
Brandon Lega-Frost, who has a horrific history of unprovoked violence, bashed the man with the large garden tool as he sat waiting for a train at Dandenong railway station.
The 25-year-old of no fixed address pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and two other violence-related crimes at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard at 2pm on October 16 this year Lega-Frost walked up to the 38-year-old victim as he sat on a bench seat.
He asked him if he had a cigarette, and when the man said no, Lega-Frost launched into him.
He wielded the shovel and hit the man hard in the face, causing him to collapse to the ground.
While laying there Lega-Frost reined three more blows onto his head and body.
Nearby PSOs heard the fracas and Lega-Frost walked towards them, only to quickly run back to the victim and hit him with the shovel twice more.
He was capsicum-sprayed, police were called and he was arrested.
The man was taken to hospital with injuries to his face, head and shoulder.
Just two days before Lega-Frost was at a hospital when he tried to attack medical staff before guards overpowered him and he was sedated.
Over the past few years he has been in and out of jail, with a litany of violent crimes on his rap sheet.
In 2014 he punched and kicked seven people, including a 14-year-old boy with autism and an intellectually disabled man, on buses and at train stations in the Dandenong area.
That time he managed to escape a prison term, but since then he has committed more attacks and in 2020 alone he spent 260 days behind bars.
He had only been out of prison for two weeks when the shovel assault occurred.
The court heard he is so violent he has to be separated from other inmates while in custody.
His defence lawyer said his client had serious schizophrenia-related mental health issues induced by substance abuse, but he was often reluctant to take his medication.
He said Lega-Frost “fell between the cracks” of the justice and health systems, and required intensive support and treatment.
He said once released he hoped to move to Sydney to be in the care of his extended family where “there were prospects he can get better”.
Magistrate Costas Kilias said the victim was “entitled to feel safe, entitled to be safe”.
“This was a vicious, unprovoked attack upon a completely innocent member of the public,” Mr Kilias said.
“(Lega-Frost’s) actions are of an extremely violent nature, using a potentially fatal weapon.”
Mr Kilias said community safety had to be taken into account.
“His history, particularly this year, shows a complete desire to resist that (mental health) treatment that he so desperately needs,” he said.
“His life has become completely out of control; he presents a community danger.”
Lega-Frost was jailed for 12 months, minus 59 days he had already served on remand.
