Identity at centre of trial

Who assaulted 75-year-old man in his home questioned

A 75-YEAR-OLD man claimed a 31-year-old neighbour had burst through his locked front door and assaulted him while a triple-0 call respondent was on the phone line.

In the triple-0 call played to the Toowoomba District Court, the Crown claimed it was Robert Norman Kelly who was heard assaulting William Blake in his Ellis St unit in Wilsonton on October 15, 2020.

Both lived in separate units at the complex.

Mr Blake told the court that due to previous confrontations, he had been told by police to call triple-0 if Kelly approached him.

He said that he had done so when he saw from his kitchen window his 31-year-old neighbour approaching up the driveway that day.

In her opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Emily Coley said it was alleged Kelly had burst into the unit and grabbed Mr Blake who fell to the floor.

It was then alleged Kelly had punched the older man a number of times to the face and chest, leaving him with a split lip, a cut above his right eye, bleeding ear and bruising, she said.

Photographs of Mr Blake’s injuries taken at the hospital that day were shown to the court.

However, during cross examination by Kelly’s barrister Wes Seewald, Mr Blake conceded Kelly’s girlfriend had approached him at his door that day and they had argued prior to the alleged assault.

However, he rejected the suggestion by Mr Seewald that it was in fact Kelly’s girlfriend who had assaulted him after he had slapped her during the argument, which Mr Blake also denied.

“I was laying on the ground and he was laying into me,” Mr Blake told the court.

Mr Seewald suggested there was a female voice on the triple-0 call recording saying words to the effect “you threatened to kill me, you threatened to kill me”.

Mr Blake conceded he could hear the voice, but he said he couldn’t remember who said it.

Mr Seewald suggested his client had arrived at the unit while his girlfriend and Mr Blake were fighting and Kelly had intervened and the couple left soon after.

However, Mr Blake maintained that it was Kelly who had assaulted him and that the couple only left when police arrived.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary and serious assault of a person aged over 60.

The trial before Judge Katherine McGuinness continues on Thursday.