Daughter stepped in to spare father a beating

A GROVEDALE father and son assaulted a man with cricket and baseball bats, only stopping when the victim’s daughter placed herself in harm’s way to help her father, a court has heard.

Grant Russell, 48, and Kenneth Russell, 20, appeared before the Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday pleading guilty to charges including affray, intentionally causing injury and threats to kill.

The court heard the June 4 incident happened because of an ongoing grievance between Grant Russell and the victim that escalated after Mr Russell walked his dogs past the victim’s property.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Chris Capuano said the victim saw the accused and told him to stay away but Mr Russell did not “like being approached and they exchanged heated words”.

“The accused yelled ‘ I’m going come back and kill you, you dog,” he said.

Mr Capuano told the court five minutes later Grant Russell was seen driving his son’s car at dangerous speeds towards the victim’s house and “slammed the brakes on” when he arrived out the front.

He said a witness observed four men get out of the car with weapons that included a cricket bat, a baseball bat and possibly a metal bar.

The court heard Grant Russell’s son, Kenneth Russell, was one of those men.

“The males struck the victims with weapons. It is believed the co-accused (Kenneth Russell) was armed with a cricket bat … and hit the victim with such force the bat broke,” Sen-Constable Capuano said. “The witness (the victim’s daughter) saw the assault commence and she was terrified her father was going to be killed. She ran to her father’s aid and put herself between her father and the offenders,” he said.

Lawyer for the pair, Michael Brugman said both were deeply ashamed and regretted their actions on that day.

Magistrate John Lesser sentenced Grant Russell to 2½ months’ jail and a 12-month community corrections order and fined Kenneth Russell $1500 without conviction.

Grant Russell was immediately released on appeal bail.