Attack on past AMA president

Article from the SMH "Haikerwal bashers get long jail terms " written by
DANIEL FOGARTY November 18, 2009


Prominent doctor Mukesh Haikerwal says he takes no comfort in knowing that the attackers who left him brain-damaged and half an hour from death have been handed long jail terms.
On an evening walk in bayside Williamstown in Melbourne last September, Dr Haikerwal was set upon and bashed so badly with a baseball bat that his skull was heard to crack.
He had already handed the group his wallet.
As they began hitting him with the bat, Dr Haikerwal, a former Australian Medical Association president, cried "help me" and told his attackers he was a doctor.
But the thugs didn't stop.
Instead, Alfer Azzopardi grabbed the baseball bat from the hand of a co-offender telling him "you're not doing it right" and took a big back swing, before powerfully striking Dr Haikerwal to the head.
The blow rendered Dr Haikerwal unconscious and nearly killed him.
"If I hadn't the luxury of two fully trained medical professionals, my brother a cardiologist and my wife a GP (who came to his aid after the attack) ... I would not be standing here today," he told reporters at his practice in the western Melbourne suburb of Altona.
"I take no comfort that my assailants have been sentenced to jail terms, but the community has to be protected and feel safe and free to go about their daily lives in safety and security.
"I now have a scar on my head. I have a piece of my brain missing, and that will never come back."
The attack came during a two-month armed robbery spree by Azzopardi, 20, of Coolaroo and Michael Baltatzis, 20, of Glenroy.
Dr Haikerwal was one of 34 victims as the two men went on a rampage of 21 robberies on 11 separate evenings.
Victorian County Court judge Joe Gullaci handed both men double-figure jail sentences.
Azzopardi was jailed for 18 and a half years, to serve a minimum of 13 and a half years.
Baltatzis was jailed for 16 and a half years, with a minimum of 10 and a half years.
A third man, Sean Gabriel, 20, of Hoppers Crossing, was jailed for nine years and nine months, with a minimum of six years.
"The courts have a duty to step up and send a clear message that if you offend in this cowardly and despicable manner then a lengthy term of imprisonment awaits," Judge Gullaci said.
"Each of the victims was selected at random, but each had a common feature, that is they were vulnerable and alone and in parks or (other) public places."
The physical and mental scars for Dr Haikerwal will continue long after the men are released.
"To go in my own manner, in my own backyard, and to be half an hour from death was a very significant affect to me and my family, and indeed the people around me," Dr Haikerwal said.
He spent a month in hospital, had to re-learn how to walk and now speaks more slowly than he once did.
A fourth person involved in the attack, a boy aged 16, who cannot be named because of his age, was ordered to serve two years in youth detention in a separate proceeding.