Daniel Burns: Women attacked over comments on police Facebook page

A man went on a rampage smashing car windows and attacking two women in Melbourne’s west over comments they made on social media.

A man has been ordered to attend anger management classes after he violently assaulted two women who identified him as a wanted person on a Victoria Police Facebook page.

Daniel Burns faced the Werribee Magistrates’ Court on Monday, pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful assault and criminal damage.

The court heard Burns raged on the social media platform after seeing a comment from his ex-partner identifying him in a CCTV photo shared by Wyndham police, calling her a “dog” and a “mutt”.

Less than an hour later the unemployed man drove to a Point Cook home at about 4.30pm on January 21, 2020, smashing a window of a car in the driveway with a brick.

“He walked through the side gate locating the two victims in the back,” a police prosecutor said.

“The accused then proceeded to verbally abuse the first victim before grabbing her by the throat.”

Prosecutors say the she fought back, punching and kicking Burns until the second woman tried to intervene and was punched in the face.

“He continued to argue about the Facebook post, punching the first victim in the face,” he said.

Neither victim required medical care after the attack ended, and Burns smashed a second window on the same car.

In court magistrate Kimberley Swadesir said the anger Burns displayed during the incident was “concerning”.

“Assaulting two people was entirely inappropriate,” she said. “Clearly there was so much anger.”

Burns, who is in a detox facility ahead of a planned rehab stay, was placed on an adjourned undertaking for a year after promising not to commit any further offences.

He was ordered to make a donation of $650 to the Cancer Council and complete an anger management counselling course.

“A stay in a residential facility for a number of months, I imagine, is the best thing for you at the moment,” Ms Swadesir said.