A Victorian man who bashed his housemate to death as
retribution for his messy bathroom habits has been jailed for
nine years.
Fed up with finding faeces on the floor of the shared
bathroom, Brett Ross Drummond helped to beat and taunt the
man blamed for the mess in a prolonged attack in October
2011.
Drummond, 46, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Victorian
Supreme Court and must spend a minimum six years in jail.
Drummond and a fellow housemate living above the Sir Charles
Hotham Hotel in Geelong repeatedly complained of the victim's
behaviour to hotel management.
On the day the victim was evicted, Drummond and the
co-accused approached him to demand he clean up his latest
mess.
The victim was beaten for around 10 minutes until he agreed.
When the pair discovered he had not cleaned the mess an hour
later they went to his room and began bashing him again.
A witness told the court Drummond laughed at, taunted and
repeatedly punched the 55-year-old man for around half an
hour.
The beating continued after the victim was unconscious.
An autopsy showed he suffered 27 rib fractures and died from
blunt chest trauma.
Justice Robert Osborn said while the exact degree of
Drummond's involvement in the bashing was unclear, there was
no doubt he inflicted blows.
The victim's blood was found on a towel and clothes in
Drummond's room.
"You assisted and encouraged (the co-offender) and together
with him inflicted an extended, cruel and brutal fatal
bashing of cumulative savagery," he said.
Justice Osborn noted Drummond played the lesser role in the
fatal assault and suffered from borderline alcoholism after a
difficult childhood.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.