Violent thug paroled

Victims included driver, police, own mother

A ROAD rage attacker who left a 54-year-old motorist with shattered facial bones and unconscious in a drifting car has been paroled.

Judge Dean Morzone released stockman and apprentice painter Steven Arthur Bateman, 21, on parole after serving 10 months for a one punch assault on the Kennedy Highway in February.

Cairns District Court yesterday heard that Bateman had pursued the driver a short distance before the man stopped his car and turned off the engine at Evelyn, 9.5km west of Millaa Millaa.

Bateman approached the stationary car and said “cop this you bastard,” punching the driver through the open window, fracturing his cheekbone and eye socket. Prosecutor Tegan Grasso told the court Bateman left his unconscious victim to his fate.

“His use of violence was entirely disproportionate, he made no attempt to assist,” Ms Grasso said.

The court heard the concussed driver woke to find his car running and his car wedged against a highway fence. He would require surgically implanted plates and screws to repair the facial damage.

Ms Grasso said Bateman had breached two suspended sentences by assaulting the driver, and had a long history of violence that included punching his own mother and assaulting police.

In another incident Bateman would be seen threatening the staff of a licensed premises with a kitchen knife he retrieved from his car. In 2014 he flooded his Cairns watch house cell by blocking the toilet with paper.

Defending barrister James Sheridan said his client was autistic and stopped his medication before the assault.

“Small things can set him off,” Mr Sheridan said.

He told the court that while at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre, Bateman had been trusted to carry out painting maintenance including the use of edged tools.

“His behaviour has been exemplary,” Mr Sheridan said. Bateman pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

Judge Morzone sentenced Bateman to two years in jail plus the remaining four month suspended term.

“You have a terrible criminal history ... it shows to me that you don’t much care for the law or the enforcement of it,” Judge Morzone said.

He set a parole release date of December 3, as Bateman had served one third of his sentence on remand.