Two Perth men who threw around 60 kilograms of potatoes from a moving car at pedestrians, causing one person to lose an eye, have been jailed.
It was also revealed in Perth District Court on Thursday that one of the men was convicted of similar offending on the same day the incident occurred along West Coast Drive in Perth’s northern suburbs in May 2022.
Two men have been locked up after throwing potatoes from a moving car left a man with serious injuries.
Trent Phillip Green, 20, and Brandon John Nutu Micicoi, 20, both pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and endangering the life, health and safety of a person after the attack near Mettams Pool in Trigg, and will now spend at least six months behind bars.
Prosecutors told the court the pair, together with a third co-accused, set out on a “coast run” or “cruise” intending to throw objects at pedestrians from the vehicle on May 24.
The court also heard the group of men had engaged in the same behaviour at least twice before, with two other victims telling police they were hit by potatoes thrown by the men a few weeks prior, although they were not seriously injured.
Both Green and Micicoi planned to engage in the same activity the day after they caused “catastrophic” injuries to a 28-year-old man who was riding an e-scooter along West Coast Drive near Trigg.
The court heard the man suffered a fractured eye socket, nose and arm, and had to have his right eye removed after he was struck with a potato thrown from the moving car driven by Micicoi, in which Green was a passenger.
“Personal toll it has taken has been the hardest,” he told the court via a victim impact statement.
“I still have constant pain in my eye, never-ending neck pain and headaches.”
The man said he had struggled with anxiety, anger and depression as a result of the attack and that he was forced to leave his job as a construction manager.
The court heard the friends from high school considered the activity as a “joke” or a “prank”. However, Green had received a spent conviction in Midland Magistrates Court for similar offending on the same day he inflicted the horrific injuries on the man riding the e-scooter.
Judge Michael Gething said the magistrate gave the spent conviction because they “took the view that he was unlikely to come back to the court again”.
He added, “we could quite as easily have been here on a murder or manslaughter charge”, noting the number of potatoes that were thrown from the car and the consequences of them impacting someone walking past.
“Both of you were willing participants,” Gething said.
“There is a clear need to deter others from similar anti-social behaviour and a term of imprisonment is appropriate to protect the community.”
Green was given an 18-month partially suspended jail term, six months of which will be spent in custody. Micicoi was given a 16-month partially suspended term, and will also need to spend six months in custody.
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