By Ethan Benedicto
A 37-year-old Narre Warren man has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after he was found guilty of violently attacking two men with a metal pole and assaulting a woman during an altercation in July 2022.
The hearing, held at the Melbourne County Court on Thursday, 10 April, heard Bradley Ivanac’s sentencing following a series of assaults after a party outside his home, with the initial court case finding him guilty in May 2024.
Sentencing judge Peter Rozen said that, in consideration of the sentencing, Ivanac’s case was an “appalling instance of mindless violence in a suburban street with children in the vicinty”.
“The relevant sentencing purposes to be achieved are denunciation, just punishment, deterrance, both general and specifics, and community protection,” Judge Rozen said.
Ivanac is guilty of two counts of intentionally causing serious injury to two men and one count of common assault involving a woman; all parties are related (not of kin) to each other.
The incident unfolded outside Ivanac’s Cranbourne home during a small party, where alcohol and prescription drugs were consumed.
According to Judge Rozen, Ivanac struck two men in the head with a metal pole, rendering them both unconscious and causing long-term brain injuries.
One of them suffered bleeding to the brain and a traumatic brain injury due to the blunt force used on his head; he has also been diagnosed with permanent loss of smell and taste and has an increased risk of epileptic seizures.
His impact statements, as read by Judge Rozen, stated that the long-term brain damage has “taken away the simple pleasures in life, such as eating and dining out”, but also experiences fear in social settings due to memory problems, leading to feelings of isolation and withdrawal.
As of August 2022, the second victim reported the bruising on his brain had not healed and was suffering from early brain softening or cell death as a result of the injury; he also suffers from an increased risk of epileptic seizures with hearing loss in both ears.
Prior to the incident, a friend of Ivanac’s had a scuffle with one of the victims, regarding the latter’s view of the friend’s involvement with illicit drugs.
The friend sustained a minor cut to the head during the scuffle, with Ivanac angry about the small altercation and what had been said about his family. He went to his garage, and emerged with the metal bar.
The bar itself has not been found.
After both victims were rendered unconscious, Ivanac spat towards a woman and yelled, “I’ve bashed girls before, I’ll hit you next”.
The court also heard Ivanac’s rough upbringing, with a history of abuse and childhood trauma, ongoing mental health conditions – including complex PTSD and ADHD – and a long-term struggle with substance use.
While Judge Rozen acknowledged some reduced moral culpability, he also found that Ivanac showed minimal remorse and rated his rehabilitation process as poor due to a lengthy criminal history and previous violent offences.
In addition to his sentencing, Ivanac has a non-parole period of seven years and has already served 716 days in pre-sentence detention.
