The reason a young father was viciously bashed, stabbed and blinded by a group of private school teenagers has finally been revealed in gruesome detail.
Jalen Morrison, the only adult amongst the group of teenagers who allegedly attacked and left Melbourne man Brett Halcro for dead in a Pyrmont park on July 31 last year, pleaded guilty to one charge in a court appearance.
The court heard Morrison stole a bag of drugs from a man standing beside Mr Halcro, after which Halcro, 36, was falsely accused of groping a girl who then phoned teenagers about it at a nearby party.
The call is believed to have enraged the teenagers so much so that they hunted Mr Halcro down, cornered him and eventually stabbed him in the right eye. He can no longer see out of it.
After the vicious attack Mr Halcro was left for dead in a park on the corner of Pyrmont Bridge Road and Wattle Streets.
A picture taken in Mr Halcro’s hospital ward at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where his family said he was in a coma for one week following the alleged attack
The ‘kind and genuine person’, who was visiting Sydney from Melbourne, was allegedly knocked off his hire bike and bashed before a teenager ran in and ‘sliced’ his face seven times and plunged a knife into his eye
Morrison, 19, from Asquith in northern Sydney, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and will be sentenced next month.
The father of a four-year-old daughter from Melbourne’s south-east had moved to Sydney earlier last year to help his father renovate his home.
Court documents showed the teenagers were attending a party at an Airbnb apartment on Wattle Crescent, Pyrmont, that same night.
Morrison was talking with Mr Halcro and another man outside the Dunkirk hotel at 10.20pm when he was shown a satchel of MDMA by the second man, the court heard.
A young woman joined them as they talked.
It is alleged Morrison asked to see the bag more closely then ran from the group with it.
‘That looks sick, can I have a look at that?’ Morrison is alleged to have said.
Nine teenagers were charged over the attack in which Brett Halcro was allegedly knocked off his bike (pictured)
Nine teenagers have been arrested for allegedly attacking a 36-year-old man at Pyrmont, in Sydney, about 11pm on July 31, 202
Pictured: Police at the scene of the alleged attack in Pyrmont, inner Sydney, in July last year
CCTV footage showed him allegedly celebrating stealing the drugs.
The court heard Mr Halcro then pursued the girl 200 metres down Pyrmont Bridge Road, where he came face-to-face with a teenage boy known to the teens in the party.
A witness in the party told police the gathering was interrupted by a call from a girl, who when put on loudspeaker, claimed ‘I’ve been groped’, court documents stated.
Two girls told police they saw five boys run out of a lift. Court documents state that CCTV footage showed one boy leave the unit wearing a black face mask and black gloves.
He was later shown to be the person who stabbed Mr Halcro in the eye.
Statements provided by the girls to police said they left the apartment about 20 seconds behind the boys and saw them attacking a man on the ground.
One boy yelled to a blonde girl ‘Is this the one that raped you?’ according to a court document.
‘Yeah, that’s the one,’ she allegedly replied.
Another party guest reported seeing six or seven boys kicking and punching a man on the ground.
Theresa Keecherer, Mr Halcro’s former partner with whom he shares a four-year-old daughter (pictured), previously told how said she has trouble explaining to her daughter what has happened to him
Pictured: Teenagers who allegedly took part in the sickening attack on 36-year-old Mr Halcro
Evidence earlier alleged one boy, a Barker College student, pulled a knife and ‘sliced’ Mr Halcro across the face up to seven times before driving the blade ‘deep’ into his right eye.
That boy, now 17, was committed for sentence in the District Court after pleading guilty to charges including causing grievous bodily harm to a person with intent.
He faces a maximum of 25 years in jail.
Morrison was arrested at 2am the next day at the Wattle Crescent apartment wearing the same clothes he wore during the attack.
His DNA also matched samples from the crime scene.
Police subsequently tracked down and charged seven other boys for related offences.
Seven teenagers charged over the attack appeared before a Sydney children’s court on Thursday
Father-of-one Brett Halcro, 36, was allegedly attacked by a group of teenagers as he walked through a Sydney park on July 31 last year. He is pictured before the alleged attack
One teenager charged by police allegedly sent these text messages to a friend
Two were sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company, an offence which carries a maximum jail term of two years if convicted.
But the boys escaped conviction and were each released on a 12 month probation.
Three others pleaded guilty and are due to appear in court next month.
In a previous court appearance a 15-year-old boy allegedly claimed watching the attack unfold made him laugh, court documents said.
‘I stomped on him and gutted his head he got knocked out after I bottled him on the head,’ the youngster allegedly wrote in one text message.
‘I put the shattered bottle in his stomach and then jetted (a co-accused) slit his face like 15 times and stabbed him in the eye.’