Danny Hodgson’s teen attacker jailed over brutal Perth train station bashing

The teenager who left soccer player Danny Hodgson fighting for his life in hospital after an unprovoked attack inside the Perth train station has been jailed for three years and eight months.

The ECU Joondalup Football Club player was on his way home end of season celebrations with teammates when he was approached by the teen as they walked across the overpass between Myer and the station on September 5 last year.

During the teen’s sentencing hearing, Perth Children’s Court was told the 17-year-old began following Mr Hodgson – who was intoxicated and had just been refused entry into a bar in Northbridge – with the pair engaging in conversation which prosecutor Brad Hollingsworth described was clearly not “cordial”.

As they reached the bakery and tickets machines, two young female juveniles appeared, causing Mr Hodgson to turn to look at one of them.

It was as he turned the court was told the teenager punched him in the jaw, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the concrete.

He then quickly fled the scene with the court told he tried to disguise his appearance by getting rid of his hat and borrowing a jacket from a friend.

The court was also told prior to the horrific attack, the 17-year-old had been on bail for several violent offences against strangers over a seven-month period including one attack where he punched a 38-year-old at Yagan Square for no apparent reason and broke his nose and another where he hit a 37-year-old man in West Perth after trying to goad him into a fight.

The court was also told of an incident where the teen, along with co-offenders entered an Indian restaurant in Joondalup and began a fight with restaurant staff. As he left the venue, the teen grabbed a dining plate and threw it causing it to hit a staff member in the head leaving him with 10cm wound which required 12 staples.

CCTV of the horrific incident was played to the court.

In sentencing the teen Children’s Court president Hylton Quail considered the attack on Mr Hodgson as in the top end of the scale for grievous bodily harm saying Mr Hodgson’s injuries were such that he almost died and could quite possible be permanently disabled.

He sentenced the boy to three years and eight months and made him eligible for parole after serving half.

During the hearing, victim impact statements from Mr Hodgson’s parents, his sister Abbey and partner Jessica Pollock were read out which revealed the depths of their despair and struggles over the past six months.

Mrs Hodgson wrote how she and her husband had lost their jobs, were unsure of how they would pay their mortgage and feared they would soon lose their home.

She also revealed how hard it was for them to watch their son have to learn very basic skills such as eating and walking again just like a “newborn”.

She wrote that the first time Danny smiled in his ICU bed it reminded her of the first time he smiled when he was six weeks old. And while she said it was great to see from a baby it was “heartbreaking” to see from a 26-year-old.

She then said she wanted the “thug” to know that he had “broken” her saying she was in “pieces” and that he had ruined their lives.

Ms Pollock revealed in her statement that she had not slept properly for the past six months and struggled to cope with not only the emotional fallout from the attack but also the practical fallout explaining she did not now how she would be able to work and look after Mr Hodgson in the future.

The court was also told of the life-threatening injuries Mr Hodgson sustained as a result of the attack including how doctors told his family a number of times they did not think he would survive.

The first was the day after the attack in which they advised the Hodgsons that their son would not live another 24 hours.

This prompted their mad dash from the UK to Perth, which at the time, was still closed to international visitors.

The court was told once they arrived the WA Government granted them special exemptions to visit him in the intensive care unit twice only because they tough he would die.

And when his siblings and grandparents also made the trip out to WA it was because doctors again feared the worst.

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