A man who hit his 69-year-old roommate because he was a “control freak” hit the unsuspecting victim in the back of the head with a baseball bat.
Mark Crow, 53, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court on Thursday to recklessly causing injury.
The court heard Crow returned home from work on February 22 to find his 69-year-old roomate sitting downstairs and asked him if he could use his cutlery.
The housemate told Crow he would get it for him later.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Andrew Claphalm said Crow then went upstairs and returned carrying a baseball bat.
“He approached the victim and hit a desk and then hit him in the back of the head which resulted in an abrasion to the victims temple,” Constable Claphalm said.
The victim went upstairs and called the police.
When police arrived they found Crow sitting outside. The court heard he was co-operative with officers.
Crow was arrested and taken to the Geelong police station for interview and told police the victim was a “control freak”.
Crow also told police he “lost it”, had had enough and “went blank” during the incident.
He said he didn’t know he hit the victim in the back of the head, but admitted he had wanted to hit him.
Crow’s lawyer said her client had not committed an offence for 15 years and had suffered from mental health and alcohol abuse issues.
The court was told Crow struggled to cope with the reality of his actions.
His lawyer also submitted the offending arose as a result of a build up of being harassed.
Magistrate Michelle Hodgson said she did not put a lot of stock in relation to the reasonings of his conduct because she didn’t have any evidence in relation to those matters.
“One should feel safe in a home environment, it would seem to be an unprovoked assault, and he suffered some physical consequences but there has also been some significant trauma,” Ms Hodgson said.
Crow was sentenced to a community corrections order for 12 months.