Name of victim: K

Name of offender: RAY

Charges to which this statement relates:

RECKLESSLY INFLICT GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM

Sentencing court: NEWCASTLE DISTRICT COURT

Sentencing date: 2008

1. This statement has been prepared by K, with support from his mother, Jillian who is now his full-time carer, and with assistance from Robyn Cotterell-Jones, Victim Support Team of The Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) Inc NSW.

K, who recently underwent his fourth major operation, to insert a titanium plate into his skull to replace bone that was removed, cannot adequately present his Victim Impact Statement himself because of ongoing speech difficulties. His family believe they simply cannot at this time read the statement for him. K has asked Ms Cotterell-Jones to read his statement to the court and seeks the court’s permission for that to occur.

Ms Cotterell-Jones had not met K in person, but has spoken with K and his mother by phone and by email since the case was first referred to VOCAL by the ODPP in 2008, for urgent assistance with the statement due for the then almost immediate sentencing date of 2008.

2. Details of personal harm suffered as a direct result of the offence:

Before suffering this unprovoked, life-changing assault on me, I was a fit, happy, polite and productive person. I had a good family, a good social life and a great sense of humour. I was an Apprentice Carpenter, earning good money and I wanted to build my own home one day, not too far away. I was also full of pride for myself and my country, a proud member of the Australian Defence Force Reserve and had applied to serve overseas again in the Army. I was passionate and committed about this career and it is all I have wanted to do since I was a little boy, I was in the School Army Cadets, then the Reserves.

I liked to drive my car and boat, go fishing with my mates, play football and keep fit. I also liked to go out and have a few drinks and go dancing. I have never smoked or taken any drugs. My parents raised me well.

Doing nothing but waiting at a taxi rank, for a taxi, I was viciously assaulted. In that moment, the impact of the violent assault was, and now always will be, that every single aspect of my life as I knew it, everything I was and my future were absolutely changed and damaged. I received a severe brain injury. Life as I knew it was over.

I cannot remember the assault and my memory was severely affected for about two months.

Most of the past ten months has just been hospital, doctors, drugs, specialist appointments and rehabilitation, with many complicating consequences. There is ongoing pain, like nothing I could have imagined before. Collapsed veins, head and brain infections and four head operations. I am absolutely terrified of the operations and the pain-filled, powerless aftermath. This crime did not intellectually handicap me, so I can understand exactly what the risks there are, each time. I can process what this crime has done to me, and to others and the sacrifices my family have to make, forever, overwhelm me. I am frustrated that there was no reason for the assault and there is nothing I can do about its impact on me and on others. Every moment now is based in my constant knowledge of the proven fact that our country is not the safe place I thought it was.

I don’t have a girlfriend anymore and I miss socialising and being in contact with friends and especially the camaraderie of my Army mates. I probably won’t be able to socially drink ever again because of my serious brain injury. That’s another isolating thing, part of the Australian culture. It sets you apart, the odd man out – again.

I cannot drive my car, my boat or participate in any sports. I can never play football or other challenging sport or activities again. I can’t even manage to bait a hook or do up my own shoe laces and buttons. I have to have help for the most basic functions.

My fitness is gone as I cannot do much in case I increase too much blood flow to my head. If i bend over I get dizzy and even when I laugh I get really bad head-aches. Life changes when you can’t even laugh!

I get really fatigued all the time. It feels like everyone has to wait for me.

I am unable to swallow properly or eat certain foods and it takes me forever to eat a meal. I have to drink with a straw.

My speech is very poor and I don’t speak on the phone as people cannot understand me.

3. Mental Impact:
I am severely depressed and feel inadequate and incapable. I may never work properly or independently again, so I will never earn a decent living. I feel useless as a human being – and a burden on my family and society. No matter what they say to reassure me, and the love we share, I still know I am a burden, and it’s only early days yet. It is part of the crime’s impact on me that I live with the financial, physical and emotional impact on my family, especially my mum, who has had to give up work to care for me. I know she is broken hearted at seeing my life turned from what it was to what it is. I need her more now than I ever did and I’m a man! I am caught in a place where society now has to pay for me and for him, and this is not the person my parents raised me to be. I do not like being ‘a victim’ – it is frustrating and horrible, a position of powerlessness.

I miss doing things and hanging out with my dad and my three brothers like we used to. I have the will, but not the way for things to be normal. The whole family is paying a very high price emotionally & financially. They are totally shattered and are really sad for me. And even though I know it wasn’t my fault, I feel guilty for what I can see that this is doing to them.

I am embarrassed about the way I sound and look & don’t like to have my photo taken anymore. I don’t want to be part of family photos.

For nine months, if I went out for a walk, or out with my family, I had to wear a helmet because a piece of my skull was missing. My brain had no bony cover, so the helmet protected it from further impact injury. I am constantly stared at, embarrassed and harassed by people who seem to think that tormenting me is some type of sport – they challenge me because of the helmet, make jokes about me, yell at me, and treat me as if I deserve to be attacked because I am some sort of retard. Since I always had to be accompanied if I went anywhere, I constantly saw the pain, disgust and anger my family had to endure. These tormentors didn’t bother to ask if I’d had an accident and if they were told I had a brain injury, some would yell and call me a retard.

Since my last operation to put in the titanium plate recently I still have to wear the helmet until the doctors are satisfied that the implant has healed, and probably where there is any risk of bumping my skull for a long time. I am filled with rage at the injustice, the akwardness and I am fearful for others like me.

I am angry that my life has been hijacked from me and I’m trapped in a body that doesn’t work properly anymore. My mind constantly goes between my belief and my reality – that people should be safe on our streets & nobody deserves to be beaten like I was. Why would anyone jump on someone’s head? I am disgusted and always thinking how unfair it is that I will always have to pay for someone else’s choice to not control their anger. I was not raised to be bitter or beaten, yet that’s how I feel. Then I feel guilty and as if I am failing my parents who gave me so much.

I miss my independence. I just don’t have many choices, unless God feels like giving out a miracle.
I just want to be normal but my life is totally ruined. I have been given a life sentence.

Thanks, Regards, K