WODONGA man Ian Schaeffer yesterday received a 13-month jail sentence for assaulting Larry Haifa as he lay unconscious in Albury’s main street last year.
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But almost immediately after the sentence, Mr Haifa described the sentence as “stupid” saying he has been scarred for life.
“It’s unfair, that’s all I can say,” Mr Haifa said.
“The injuries that he’s done ... it’s a long, slow process for me to recover and get back to where I was, probably, I will never get back to the way I was.”
Magistrate Gordon Lerve imposed the sentence on Schaeffer, 20, in Albury Local Court backdating it to January 13 this year when he was arrested, extradicted from Victoria and refused bail.
Mr Lerve repeated during his sentence that the penalty was based on prosecution facts which said no injuries could be directly attributed to the actions of Schaeffer.
Mr Haifa suffered a blow from Killara man Jesse Costin and fell to the road in Dean Street on December 23 last year with witnesses hearing a “crack”.
He received a life-threatening head injury, was rushed to the Albury Base Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Mr Lerve said he wanted to emphasise the facts which formed the basis for his sentencing.
Schaeffer was on suspended sentence bonds for assault and theft when he punched Mr Haifa which resulted in assault and affray charges being laid by police.
Mr Lerve said Schaeffer was part of a group which was obviously intent on violence.
Mr Haifa had been punched by the group, was kneed by a security guard and retreated to the median strip where he was hit by Costin.
“This is yet another example of violence in the central business district of Albury in or about licensed premises,” Mr Lerve said.
“The conduct of the offender apart from being violent and dangerous is also conduct to which the decent and respectable citizens of this city should not have to witness and further do not have to tolerate.”
Mr Lerve said he had a pre-sentence report which said Schaeffer was 13 when his father was jailed for murder and “things began to go downhill from there”.
Schaeffer last year received detention in a youth training centre in Victoria for burglary and theft.
Mr Lerve imposed jail terms on each of the four charges with some accumulation to make 13 months.
Costin is due to face sentence today in the District Court at Albury.
