A judge has jailed two brothers over a ‘deplorable’ attack on an elderly man so violent the 78-year-old almost permanently lost his sight.
Alex Benjamin Dower, 23, and Brandon Adam Dower, 21, were sentenced in the Western Australian District Court on Tuesday.
They pleaded guilty to attacking Herbert Schmidt in a Hungry Jacks carpark in the Perth suburb of Jindalee about 3am on August 2, 2024.
The grandfather, who had been out collecting recyclable cans, was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with serious head injuries.
He underwent treatment to prevent him from losing his eyesight and spent a week in hospital recovering from the ordeal.
The court heard he still suffers from anxiety and ongoing dizziness.
Judge Linda Petrusa SC described the assault as ‘utterly deplorable’, adding the Dower brothers had ‘robbed this elderly gentleman of his enjoyment of life’.
Mr Schmidt was taking his usual early-morning walk, a habit he had formed when his dog was alive, when he was spotted by the pair.
Brandon Dower, 21, (pictured) and his brother Alex, 23, were sentenced over the bashing of an elderly man in the District Court in Perth on Tuesday
CCTV footage captured the moment the two men attacked Herbert Schmidt, 78, in the carpark of a Jindalee Hungry Jacks about 3am on August 2 last year
Both were arrested by Western Australian police just hours after the attack (pictured)
The brothers had been intoxicated and doing burnouts in the Hungry Jacks carpark when they saw a light coming from a torch held by the elderly man.
After Brandon mistakenly assumed the grandfather was recording him, he exited the car and approached him in an aggressive manner.
Judge Petrusa said Mr Schmidt had been frightened by the man and had been within his rights to defend himself with pepper spray.
Brandon then pushed Mr Schmidt, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground.
His older brother, Alex, then ran over and stomped on and kicked him at least nine times.
Brandon then punched Mr Schmidt in the head at least three times and kicked him in the head at least once.
‘This was a persistent attack by the two of you on this defenceless old man’, Judge Petrusa said on Tuesday.
‘It lasted about a minute. It doesn’t seem like a long time. But when you’re being kicked and stomped on whilst you’re on the ground, it’s a long time.’
One of the brothers is seen being led in handcuffs to a waiting police car
Pictured is a street view of the Hungry Jacks outside which Mr Schmidt was attacked
One of them then stole Mr Schmidt’s reading glasses before the pair returned to the car and fled the scene.
Judge Petrusa said the pair returned to the scene but only to retrieve something Brandon thought he had left behind.
Upon their return, Alex moved the bruised and bloodied old man from the roadway in the carpark and sat him against the footpath.
The assault was recorded on CCTV and witnessed in part by a man who called emergency services, before returning to assist Mr Schmidt.
The brothers were arrested later that day and both subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated grievous bodily harm.
Lawyers for the brothers said they both expressed remorse for their actions.
Brandon was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, backdated to the date of his arrest on August 2, 2024.
He will be eligible for parole after serving 21 months.
Alex was sentenced to seven years behind bars for the assault and breach of three previous suspended sentences for separate offences.
He will be eligible for parole after five years, also backdated to August 2.
