Chip off the old cell block
Father and son jailed for at least five years for baseball bat attack
A FATHER and son from North Shore will each spend at least five years in jail for a “savage” vigilante baseball bat attack on their neighbour.
Scrap merchant Michael James McKinnin, 47, and his 26-year-old son, Harley Michael James McKinnin, were sentenced on Friday.
A month earlier a Geelong County Court jury found the men both guilty of recklessly causing serious injury to poultry farmer Gavan Broad.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle said the men each used a baseball bat in the night-time attack on March 24 last year, but later lied about the weapons and tried to dupe police and the jury into believing they’d acted in self defence. “It is clear the attack on Mr Broad was vicious, unprovoked and planned, albeit only shortly before it occurred,” the judge said.
“One of you struck Broad to the body, knocking the wind out of him. He was then struck to the left side of the head, knocking him to the ground.
“Once he was on the ground you both repeatedly struck him to the body and legs.”
The court heard the attack happened after Harley McKinnin spotted some younger men interfering with the shell of a car outside his dad’s scrap yard on The Esplanade.
After scaring them off, he got into a working vehicle with his dad and pursued the youngsters to Seaside Pde, where some had sought refuge at the Pindarri Poultry business.
Business owner Mr Broad had stayed back late that night with some of his staff, and was near the front of the premises when the father and son got out of their car, each armed with a baseball bat
Judge Chettle said the men had “overreacted in a gross way” to the intrusion at the scrap yard, and then took out their anger on an innocent victim.
He said two female wit- nesses to the incident were traumatised by what they saw, fearing their friend and employer, Mr Broad, was going to be killed.
One of the women stopped the attack by ramming her SUV into the McKinnin’s Holden Astra, damaging it and drawing their attention away from the beating, the court heard.
Mr Broad may never recover from his physical and mental injuries, has not worked since, and may never do so again, the court heard.
He spent four days in hospital after being taken from the scene in an ambulance with a shattered cheekbone, a fractured spine, ribs and ankle, lung injuries and extensive bruising.
Judge Chettle found the men were equally responsible for the attack, but said the son, Harley, required a longer jail term because his criminal record and prospects of rehabilitation were much worse than his father’s, and he was on a community corrections order at the time.
Harley McKinnin was sentenced to eight years in jail with a non-parole period of five-and-half years. His father got seven-and-a-half years, with five years non-parole.