Thug not fit for jail time
Father, 93, locked out while disabled son is bashed
A YOUNG man who broke into a 93-year-old Geelong man’s home and viciously bashed his intellectually disabled son has avoided further time in prison.
Wally Janeczko was left bruised and bloodied after Kyle Elston, now 20, forcefully punched him to the head 10 to 15 times before stealing his wallet in Hamlyn Heights in August last year.
The assault happened while Wally’s father, Joe — who has since died — was locked outside, terrified as he heard his son calling out in distress.
The County Court of Victoria was told yesterday that Elston tried unsuccessfully to enter via Wally’s bedroom on August 22 before putting a garden hose under the door to flood the house.
Joe saw water coming in through the back door and went outside, thinking the hot water system might have burst.
While Joe was in the backyard, Elston entered the house and locked the door from the inside.
Wally heard a noise, thinking it was his father, but instead found Elston wearing a mask and demanding money.
He refused, so Elston punched him in the face, causing him to fall backward. “You hit him 10 or 15 times during the assault. They were forceful punches, which hurt him, and he was crying out for you to stop,” Judge Wendy Wilmoth said.
Wally suffered severe facial swelling and bruising with a black eye and stayed overnight in hospital.
Police were unable to locate Elston for a month, but were able to identify him through fingerprints he left on Wally’s bedroom window.
Following the burglary, Wally’s brother Mick said his dad felt so unsafe he stayed up all night watching TV and slept during the day, with a knife under his bed and a steel pipe at the front door.
“Joe told Mick how worried he’d been when he was locked outside the house and Wally was inside, being beaten,” the judge said.
Judge Wilmoth said Elston had an intellectual disability and a brain impairment, with his “complex” case deeming him unsuitable for more prison time.
The defendant also committed another burglary in September last year at a different home, stealing a TV, iPad, computer, two cameras and two sets of car keys.
He was sentenced to 82 days’ imprisonment, which he has already served, and a community corrections order during which he must undergo drug abuse treatment and complete a literacy and numeracy program.