Vicious attack left man in coma

AN 18-year-old man was denied bail yesterday after being charged with grievous bodily harm for his part in an alleged group attack on a 21-year-old man.

Bundaberg Magistrates Court was told Steven Gregory Morton and two other people attacked the man after a birthday party at a Robert Street home last Saturday night.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Barry Stevens said witnesses alleged the trio repeatedly punched and kicked the man and, at one stage, began stomping the man’s head into the concrete until parts of his skull were visible.

The man needed about half his volume of blood replaced and remained in a coma for two days at Bundaberg Hospital.

The court was told that during the attack the man tried to flee over a fence but was chased down and attacked with a folding deck chair.

Sgt Stevens said Morton had held the man’s arms down while the others punched him.

A witness alleged she watched the group stomp on the man’s head and, at one point, was sprayed with blood on her left arm, chest and face.

The man was found lying a pool of blood in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Sgt Stevens told the court the attack had started after a young woman at the party alleged she had been raped.

Morton’s two accomplices were granted bail in Bundaberg Magistrates Court earlier in the week.

But magistrate Jennifer Batts denied bail to Morton, who is awaiting trial on another grievous bodily harm charge in Maryborough District Court.

The men will reappear in court on May.