THE FAMILY of Cork man David Keohane, who was “left for dead” after he was attacked in Sydney in 2008, yesterday told the New South Wales District Court their life had been a living “hell”.
Carol Keohane’s victim impact statement was read out in court during a sentencing hearing for one of her brother’s attackers. Kane Tupuolamoui (22) pleaded guilty last November to robbery in company and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Mr Keohane suffered severe brain damage as a result of the attack in the beachside suburb of Coogee on August 9th, 2008.
While walking home from a night out Mr Keohane was set upon and hit on the head about 14 times and left lying on the street.
Judge Ronald Soloman heard yesterday how Mr Keohane had hoped to build a life for himself in Sydney, but everything changed the day he was “left for dead at the side of the road”.
Ms Keohane’s statement described the soul-destroying events that have left her brother in a wheelchair, including having to see “such a fit and active young man travel back unconscious with no control over his body and no awareness he was even leaving Australia”.
Mr Keohane was in a coma for seven months and in hospital for more than a year after the unprovoked attack. He was repatriated while still in a coma, from which he emerged on St Patrick’s Day 2009. He had to relearn how to use his hands, eat, walk and wash, his sister said.
Mr Keohane’s recovery suffered a major setback in January when he had a life-threatening seizure, the court heard. He remains in hospital, with doctors unable to say what quality of life he will have.
“Today David cried as he asked us what happened to him. It broke our hearts to have to explain all over again that he was attacked by two strangers on a night out,” Ms Keohane’s statement said.
“We would not have survived these times, that you could only describe as hell, without the support and prayers from people we didn’t know.”
In May last year, Tupuolamoui’s co-offender, Thomas Isaako, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attack on Mr Keohane and that of another man nine days later.
Isaako was acquitted of a charge of attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to robbery in company and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Isaako gave evidence at Tupuolamoui’s sentencing hearing yesterday. “First of all, my statement was a lie. I’m sorry, your honour, I lied,” Isaako said when asked to recount the details of the attack on Mr Keohane. “In my statement I said it was his idea. It wasn’t. It was my idea. I said: ‘Let’s do this, let’s roll someone.’ I was the first to hit him and I was the only one who hit him. Kane didn’t touch him at all,” said Isaako. Tupuolamoui’s sentencing hearing was adjourned to July 15th.
