COMING to terms with the vicious assault that nearly killed him will take a Camillo senior years, but the man who caused the horrific injuries could be out of jail next year.
Robert Geoff Collard (21) was in the company of five children when he brutally assaulted 74-year-old Wally with a baseball bat.
The force of Collard’s frenzied and unprovoked attack shattered Wally’s right arm, fractured a vertebrae, cracked three of his ribs and left the senior with cuts and bruises and an indentation to his head.
“He (Collard) was out to kill someone that night… and he found me,” Wally told Comment News.
Wally was out at 10.30pm on Sunday, October 30, last year trying to find the owner of a lost dog.
He does not go outside at night any more because the brutal crime has left him suffering not only physical pain, but also post-traumatic stress syndrome.
“My doctor now has me on anti-depressants. I’ll need to be on them for about two years,” Wally said.
“I don’t get the pension and I have a lot of medical bills to pay. This is different from Collard who is now getting free medical, dental, food and accommodation. I’m the victim, but I’m the one with the sentence … the physical pain, post traumatic stress and medical bills.”
Canning MHR Don Randall is concerned Wally did not receive the support he deserves and is calling for Collard to receive a tougher sentence.
Wally said Collard should have received a tougher penalty and he would have preferred the man was caned before being put in a cell.
His wife Janet said if Collard was let free, which could happen in 15 months time taking into account time served, he would not have had time to rehabilitate and could re-offend.
She said the offence had robbed her of the husband she once had.
“All of a sudden I became an alien to him because of his post-traumatic stress,” she said.
Wally said the fact that Collard bragged about the assault on Facebook upset him.
MHR for Canning Don Randall has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal against the three-year sentence given to Collard, who was on a conditional suspended imprisonment order when he committed the offence.
“To say this sentence is inadequate is a complete understatement and simply does not reflect the expectations of the community,” Mr Randall said.
Janet and Wally thanked Armadale detectives for putting Collard behind bars.
“Still, it mustn’t be easy for the police… knowing that they did all that work and Collard only got three years,” Janet said.
“I’m also grateful for the courageous lady who came to help me when she heard me screaming for help,” Wally said.
“The security light of her home came on and that’s when Collard fled. Another five minutes and he would have killed me.”