Brother of rising footy star who fractured another man’s skull in savage nightclub attack while high on ecstasy is jailed for just two years
- A man was high on ecstasy when he kicked a man in the head at a nightclub
- Cody Nathan Lee Bennell, 23, has been jailed for four years and six months
- The victim suffered bleeding on the brain and continues to endure headaches
A 23-year-old man who was high in ecstasy when he fractured a man’s skull by kicking him in the head at a nightclub brawl has been jailed.
Cody Nathan Lee Bennell, the brother of West Australian Football League rising star Michael Bennell, attacked Matthew Skeet outside an Albany nightclub in the early hours of July, 28, last year.
Violence erupted after Mr Skeet and his friend walked past Bennell and his larger group of companions and ‘words were exchanged’, the District Court of WA heard during sentencing on Thursday.
The brother of West Australian Football League rising star Michael Bennell (pictured with his girlfriend) has been jailed for kicking a man in the head
Bennell’s cousin had instigated the aggression and was confronting others for no reason, the court heard.
Bennell kicked the victim, causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head on the road.
Mr Skeet suffered bleeding on the brain and continues to endure headaches, jaw soreness, and a distorted sense of smell and taste.
The judge heard Bennell’s brother West Australian Football League rising star Michael Bennell (pictured), who supported him in court, plans to use his Wirrpanda Foundation contacts to help his sibling improve his life when he gets out of jail
Defence counsel Gavin MacLean said Bennell became involved in the fight ‘to support his cousin’.
‘It’s certainly not excusable,’ Mr MacLean said.
Prosecutor Sarah Jessup said the attack was entirely unprovoked, noting Bennell had a disorderly behaviour conviction for shouting obscenities and trying to fight someone outside the same nightclub in 2013.
He committed the attack last year while on a suspended sentence for assaulting his girlfriend in a jealous rage over almost two hours in 2014.
Judge Michael Bowden activated Bennell’s six-month sentence for that offence and imposed a four-year jail term for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Skeet.
‘The public are entitled to expect that the courts are going to provide meaningful penalty for these sort of acts of horrific violence,’ Judge Bowden said.
The judge heard Bennell’s brother, who supported him in court, plans to use his Wirrpanda Foundation contacts to help his sibling improve his life when he gets out of jail.
Bennell was sentenced to four-and-half years behind bars, and must serve half his sentence without parole.