Callous tattoo revenge attack

By Bree Fuller
Updated November 6 2012 - 1:29am, first published December 9 2010 - 10:25am
Callous tattoo revenge attack
Callous tattoo revenge attack
A police image of the victim’s forcibly tattooed head.
A police image of the victim’s forcibly tattooed head.

A Nowra man who attacked a mentally impaired teen with a baseball bat before tattooing "DOG" on his forehead has been sentenced to more than 14 years' jail.Jason Allen Tattersall, 35, lured the defenceless teen to an Albion Park Rail home on February 23, where he and his mates subjected the 18-year-old to seven hours of brutal violence.During the ordeal Tattersall broke the teen's ankle with a baseball bat, before walking him outside and letting his mates punch him to the ground and kick him in the ribs.The group later returned to the kitchen, where the teen was forced to lie on the floor while Tattersall forcibly tattooed "DOG" on his forehead in green ink.They continued to use violence to coerce the teen into signing ownership of his Daihatsu Charade over to Tattersall.The callous, calculated assault was revenge for the teen having started a sexual relationship with Tattersall’s girlfriend while he was in jail.Tattersall had only been released from custody for three days before going on an ‘‘ice’’ binge and tracking down the teen.Yesterday he stood silently in the dock as Wollongong District Court Judge Paul Conlon sentenced him to a minimum 11 years behind bars for the sickening attack. Tattersall had shown ‘‘gratuitous cruelty’’, telling the teen he would be overdosed on heroin and left to die, the court heard.‘‘His conduct in committing this offence displayed a viciousness and callousness not often seen,’’ Judge Conlon said.‘‘When giving evidence, I did not detect any feeling of sympathy for the victim’s suffering during the offence or indeed empathy for the continuing psychological damage the victim will experience in the future.’’The teen is now blind in his left eye and has undergone extensive surgery to his ankle as a result of the attack.He has since grown his fringe long and taken to wearing caps as a way of concealing the tattoo on his forehead.‘‘I cannot get a job. The tattoo has left me unemployable,’’ he told the court in a victim impact statement.‘‘The shock on people’s faces doesn’t describe it. Job interviews just don’t go any further.’’Not only had the attack scarred him physically and emotionally, but it had torn his and his mother’s life to shreds, he said.The court heard that during the ordeal, the 18-year-old was detained by Tattersall at the Albion Park Rail home with the help of a number of friends.He only received help after Tattersall ordered two of his mates to drop him off at hospital.‘‘This is what you are going to say: you got bashed by five or six wogs in a park,’’ Tattersall told his victim.‘‘I will kill you and come after your family if you tell the cops [anything different].’’Tattersall’s cousin Shaun Burne last week was sentenced to five years and three months’ jail for his role in the attack. Nowra couple Nadia Donn and Ben Thomas, both 30, were also given custodial sentences.Matthew Bool, who lived in the home where the teen was attacked, was jailed for a maximum two years.His defacto partner Stephanie Ireland was released on a good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to disposing of the tattoo gun after the fact.

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