Brothers Jay and Isaiah Stephens plea over bashing top cop Chris O’Neill
A judge has been urged not to jail the youngest of two brothers who bashed a high-ranking Victorian cop near St Kevin’s College in Toorak. This is why.
Police & Courts
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The youngest of two brothers who bashed a high-ranking Victorian cop should avoid jail as he was lead astray by his parole-skipping older sibling, a court has heard.
Isaiah Stephens, 19, had no criminal record before his 21-year-old brother, Jay Stephens, came back into his life after fleeing his parole for violent offending in Queensland.
But months after they were reunited the pair went on a drunken escapade, which ended in the brutal attack on off-duty Assistant Commissioner Chris O’Neill at St Kevin’s College in Toorak on June 15 last year.
The pair faced the County Court on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing after pleading guilty to recklessly causing serious injury to Mr O’Neill, 60, who suffered broken ribs, bleeding on the brain and lungs, as well as lacerations and bruises in the bashing.
Barrister Tim Smurthwaite, for Jay Stephens, conceded his client was the ringleader in the attack.
“It is accepted that he started the incident and the incident was of his making,” Mr Smurthwaite said.
He said his client was depressed and had popped eight Xanax tablets on the day of the attack, combined with guzzling some $300 worth of alcohol.
The court heard Jay Stephens came to Victoria to be surrounded by family after being released on parole in Brisbane on February 4 – just four months before the attack on Mr O’Neill.
Queensland police seek to extradite him to serve the remaining 6 ½ months of his sentence for breaching parole once his Victorian matters are finalised, Mr Smurthwaite said.
He said his client was remorseful for his actions and had pleaded guilty at an early stage, urging Judge Paul Lacava to sentence him to the 325 days of time he has already served on remand.
He said his time on remand had become more burdensome due to prison lockdowns from coronavirus, meaning he could no longer have visits from family.
But the court heard he had recently shared a cell for up to three months with his father, Jared Pihlgren, who was on remand, but last month bailed, on charges relating to intimidating police.
Barrister Simon Moglia, for Isaiah, said his client accepts his “ill” judgment on the day and that he shouldn’t have “joined in a fight”.
“He has terrible embarrassment for causing that type of injury to anyone, particularly an older man,” Mr Moglia said.
Mr Moglia said Isaiah should avoid jail as he had no priors, was a youthful offender and remorseful, and instead be placed on a Community Corrections Order.
Prosecutor Neill Hutton told the court Mr O’Neill still had regular pain and dizziness since the bashing.
Mr O’Neill was off duty and waiting on the platform at Heyington railway station when he saw the brothers get evicted from the train by an authorised officer.
Concerned they were up to no good, he followed the duo onto the nearby school grounds.
“What are you looking at you old c---?” Jay Stephens said when Mr O’Neill confronted him.
Jay Stephens launched an attack on the officer, with Isaiah then running in to help, kicking and punching him in the face, head, back and torso.
“Mr O’Neill could feel blood dripping down his face – he described being punched and hit too many times to count,” Mr Hutton said.
Three hours earlier the brothers had taunted tennis players as they walked through a park and saw them playing in Chadstone.
“You f---ing faggots,” Jay Stephens yelled out to the players, before urging them to come out and fight him, threatening he would kill them.
Judge Lacava said it was clear both brothers’ childhood backgrounds were “absolutely tragic”.
He will sentence them on May 18.
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