Deadbeat dad jailed for 12 years for brutal assault on stranger

A man jailed for joining his son in a violent attack on a stranger in Melbourne’s CBD has been called out by the judge over his parenting skills when it was revealed he wanted to adopt a child.

A deadbeat dad who joined his son in a vicious unprovoked attack on an innocent stranger in Melbourne city has been jailed for 12 years.

County Court judge Helen Syme questioned Jared Pihlgren’s parenting as she ordered he spend at least eight years behind bars before being eligible for parole.

Pihlgren, the court heard, had expressed a desire to adopt a child from overseas, with Judge Syme remarking agencies may want to consider this offence. “You do not present as the ideal parent,” she said.

Pihlgren, 53, and his equally brutish son, Jay Stephens, 23 — both with criminal records and known for hating cops — were walking the streets of Melbourne when they began following Jingu Kim along Lonsdale St about 12.30am on December 17, 2021.

Footage shows Jared Pihlgren and Jay Stephens during the vicious attack on Mr Kim.

Cameras captured the moment Stephens confronted Mr Kim, 35, swinging punches in a three-minute onslaught.

Mr Kim, who was walking home after a night out with friends at a karaoke bar, could be seen trying to defend himself, before the pair ended up wrestling on the ground.

Pihlgren was hovering nearby, almost appearing to keep watch.

But once Mr Kim overpowered his son, he pulled a knife from his bum bag and ran in, stabbing him multiple times until he “flopped” on the ground in a pool of blood.

Shocking footage captures the moment Mr Kim’s head is stomped on.

Some seven seconds later, as Mr Kim lay motionless on the concrete footpath, Stephens ran in and stomped on his head.

The father and son were then seen walking away from his lifeless body.

Judge Syme dismissed any suggestion by Pihlgren that he was trying to defend his son.

She said “good sense suggests that if you had real concern for the welfare of your son” then he would have stepped in and stopped him from attacking Mr Kim.

Jared Pihlgren leaves Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Picture: AAP

“From its commencement, the attack on Mr Kim was completely unprovoked,” Judge Syme said.

“You joined in and made the attack even more one-sided – two against one. You were armed with a knife.

“Your actions remarkably increased the violence and seriousness of the offending.”

Judge Syme said Mr Kim sustained life-threatening injuries, including deep stab wounds to his back and chest and an “indentation” to his head and face.

His heart stopped for three minutes and he was in a coma for three days, while his family made a mercy dash to his hospital bedside from Korea.

“Without hospital intervention Mr Kim would have died,” Judge Syme said.

Bystanders rush to help Mr Kim after the vicious assault.

Mr Kim, in a victim impact statement earlier read out in court, detailed how “my life fell into hell” after the attack.

While he has no memory of the assault, he said the scars on his body were a daily reminder of how close he came to losing his life.

Pihlgren pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious injury, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Without his early plea, which saved the victim having to face a lengthy trial, Judge Syme said she would have sent Pihlgren to jail for 16 years.

She will sentence Stephens, who pleaded guilty to affray and intentionally causing injury, later this month.