’No one safe in your company’
Parole for ‘barbaric’ attack but...
A CARER who repeatedly beat a man who was cowering in a foetal position at a Gold Coast railway station has been told that “no one is safe” in his company.
Timothy Zoltan Maxwell Hegedus attacked the “much smaller” man after he got off the train because the man refused to fight him and walked away from him at the Coomera railway station about 2.10pm on June 16.
The pair did not know each other.
Hegedus pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court on Friday to assault occasioning bodily harm, public nuisance and trespass.
The man was left with head injuries, including concussion, as well cuts and bruises to his head, face, hands and knees.
Members of the public intervened and held Hegedus down until police arrived.
Magistrate Pam Dowse said the violence was “barbaric”.
Hegedus was sentenced to 12 months in prison, fined $500 and ordered to pay the victim $2500 in compensation.
“When I look at you I am full of anger,” Magistrate Dowse said.
“I have no sympathy for you. You are big, you are strong and you think you can do whatever you want to do.”
The court was told Hegedus cared for his disabled sister, including helping her with hygiene matters.
“The nice things you do for your sister just pale into insignificance because no one else is safe in your company,” Magistrate Dowse said.
She said the reason Hegedus was given immediate parole was to ensure the victim got some compensation and Hegedus had to be working for that to happen.
The attack at the Coomera railway station was not the first time that Hegedus had attempted to start a fight in public.
Three months earlier, on March 15, Hegedus was caught making a scene near a Coomera service station with a group of men.
A member of the public heard men make threats about shooting someone and called police.
Hegedus told police he did not know the men but offered to “fight them like a man as he is familiar with Brazilian jiujitsu”.
On July 21, less than a month after his attack at Coomera, Hegedus was at the same railway station when he made a rude remark to a woman.
When her partner objected, Hegedus told the man he would “smash him” before throwing a punch at the man.
The man retaliated, punching Hegedus.
Magistrate Dowse said: “The photos of your injuries, I
thought it was a bit of natural justice coming your way.”
Hegedus’ solicitor Andrew McGinness, of McGinness & Associates, said alcohol did not agree with Hegedus.
“When he is not drinking he is quite a decent person and son,” he said.
Mr McGinness said Hegedus had seen a psychologist twice since he was charged.