ERRONEOUSLY informed that a 59-year-old man who lived in his Hamilton South unit complex was a paedophile, Benjamin Robert Wein attacked the man, punching him seven times in the head and knocking him to the ground where he continued to mercilessly punch, kick and stomp his head into the concrete.
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"Now try to be a paedophile," Wein told the man while standing over him outside the complex in Fowler Street on April 8, 2018.
Covered in blood, dazed and disorientated the victim managed to stumble into his unit and collapse.
The police were called, but no one in the unit complex who saw the assault or heard the commotion wanted to get involved and so the officers were not aware there had been an assault or that the victim was seriously injured.
On April 10, two days after the assault, another resident peered through the victim's window and saw him unconscious, covered in blood and wearing the same clothes from when he was badly bashed.
This time the paramedics and police were called and the 59-year-old man was rushed to hospital in a coma with what doctors described as an "extremely severe traumatic brain injury".
The victim spent 13 days in the intensive care unit at John Hunter Hospital before being transferred to a neurosurgical ward and then the Rankin Park Centre for inpatient rehabilitation.
In a report earlier this month outlining the victim's condition, Dr Michael Stone said he has permanent brain damage which causes cognitive impairment and prevents him from performing complex tasks.
"The victim requires full-time care and it is expected he will for the rest of his life," Dr Stone wrote. "His condition is not expected to improve."
He has since been transferred to a hostel that provides 24-hour care and he does not have the capacity to make decisions in relation to his finances, health management or accommodation.
Wein pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to person with intent and destroy or damage property and this week was jailed in Newcastle District Court for a maximum of seven years and four months, with a non-parole period of five years. He will be eligible for parole in May, 2023.
According to an agreed statement of facts, another resident in the Hamilton South unit complex told Wein that the 59-year-old victim was a paedophile and that he had seen the victim "yell obscenities" to two young girls walking past. The other resident told Wein he had called the police, but nothing had happened.
Police said contrary to what the resident told Wein, there was no evidence to suggest the victim was a paedophile and there was no record of any report to police about him.
