Adam Nicholas Goedhart sentenced for ‘vicious’ assault that crippled Mackay housemate

An intoxicated man woke up his 60-year-old housemate with a beer can days after moving in and stomped him to near death in a ‘vicious, sustained’ assault, before confessing at a nearby payphone.

After a intoxicated man woke up his 60-year-old housemate with a beer can days after moving in and stomped him to near death in a ‘vicious, sustained’ assault, before confessing to triple-0 at a nearby payphone.

A 60-year-old man was described as a “shell of himself” after his new housemate’s vicious assault in a strange wake-up call that a Queensland court heard could be fuelled by schizophrenic delusion.

Adam Nicholas Goedhart was drunk and high on ice when he entered the room of Ian George Raines at about 1.30am on November 4, 2021 and threw a beer can at him in bed, before his ‘vicious, sustained’ assault left Mr Raines lying in a pool of his own blood.

The 30 year old then fled their housing complex on McAlister St, Mackay to a nearby payphone, where he breathlessly told triple-0 his housemate had inappropriately touched him and called him a “very sick puppy”.

A particular tone of indignation at being told he “imagined” any intimidation was made complex by Goedhart’s schizophrenia diagnosis, Mackay District Court heard on Wednesday.

“Um, there’s been a very serious matter ... basically, he made me feel extremely threatened because he was touching me in the lounge room at night (then he came into my room) and he says ‘You behave’,” Goedhart is heard saying on the recorded call.

Adam Nicholas Goedhart was sentenced in Mackay District Court for the violent assault of his then-60-year-old housemate Ian George Raines at about 1.50am on November 4, 2021 at McAlister St. Photo: Contributed

“(Later) I walked out and I said mate you have to deal with this for a safe position for both of us … he didn’t answer me (so) I threw an object at him.

“And he, he lied about what happened right at my bedroom at the end of the night, and he said that I was imagining it.

“Just before I hit him, he said to me: You need to know the truth, you’re a very sick puppy mate, you’re completely insane.

“He came rushing at me and I stomped on his head.

“I am a very beautiful, very good looking young man, this sort of thing doesn’t happen to me all the time, but it has happened before.”

Yet when asked whether any sexual touching had happened before, Goedhart says no and offhandedly notes Mr Raines was instead “correcting me, like you know ... telling me to put the milk back in”.

Goedhart is initially heard breathing heavily in the recorded call, sounding panicked but earnest, but settles as he answers the calm questions of a triple-0 operator until police arrive to arrest him.

He made early guilty pleas to one charge of malicious act with intent.

Adam Nicholas Goedhart is charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm over allegedly stabbing his McAlister St neighbour in November 2021.

Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas said a terrified third housemate had blockaded himself in his room while the assault went on and called police, but poked his head out to hear Goedhart say “I tried to f-cking kill him this time, I tried to f-cking kill him”.

Ms Aldas said both the third housemate and a downstairs neighbour heard loud bangs that “sounded like someone was stomping on the floor” and screaming.

When poking his head out, the housemate saw Goedhart standing over Mr Raines lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, bleeding from his head with a “not insignificant amount of splatter”.

Paramedics immediately sedated Mr Raines, Ms Aldas said, who remained in hospital for the next six months with traumatic brain injuries including several hematoma and severe internal hemorrhaging.

The court heard Mr Raines had lost much of his memory and was now in assisted living, could no longer work nor drive: “His life will no longer be the same.”

Ms Aldas said his brother and sister-in-law were now his executors and had written statements lamenting how they had “lost their Ian”, who was now a “shell of himself”.

Northern Territory Police previously held concerns for the welfare of Adam Nicholas Goedhart after he travelled to Darwin. Picture: NT Police

However when Goedhart’s defence barrister Scott Moon began noting his “longitudinal history of mental health” and previous use of electroshock therapy, he interrupted persistently as both Mr Moon and instructing solicitor Rosie Varley attempted to quiet their client.

“Are you on my side mate? I told you I don’t want you saying this,” he interjected, telling Judge Deborah Richards that Moon was “making me sound like I’m a bloody lunatic”.
“It’s exactly what Ian said to me on the night … and of course I lack credibility so what I say doesn’t mean shit ... is this a witch burning?”

Mr Moon said that a psychiatrist's report on Goedhart noted his “demonstrated unwillingness to undergo treatment for his schizophrenia”, compounded by a lifelong issue with drugs that resulted in police regarding him as briefly missing in both Darwin and on Macleay Island.

Despite asking “can I just sack you now”, Judge Richards convinced Goedhart to retain his barrister and gently shut down his tangent on “other crimes in society” like child trafficking.

“There's no defence of provocation in a case like this .. no matter what happened you went way over the top,” she said.

“To your credit you went straight to the phone and rang triple-0 (but) unfortunately he was really seriously injured.”

With the prosecution pushing for a sentence of 10 years imprisonment and defence asking for seven, Judge Richards sentenced Goedhart to eight years jail with 645 days of presentence custody deemed time served.

He will be eligible for parole from August 27, 2025.

Originally published as Adam Nicholas Goedhart sentenced for ‘vicious’ assault that crippled Mackay housemate