Brayden Deon Moody: Man avoids immediate jail sentence after punching father unconscious in Beresford

A Geraldton judge has avoided making a final decision on a man who punched his father, leaving him unconscious and with a broken nose, giving him a chance to prove he can stay out of jail. Brayden Deon Moody, 28, pleaded guilty to unlawful aggravated assault causing bodily harm after punching his father in Beresford on March 21, 2021. Moody admitted to being on methamphetamine at the time and believing that his father was flirting with Moody’s partner. The punch left his father unconscious, causing a broken nose and displaced eye socket, as well as lacerations to the eyebrows and a swollen cheek. District Court Judge Troy Sweeney told Moody his father still gets blurred vision from the “cowardly” attack, but he was lucky he didn’t suffer worse injuries. “Your father had no prospect of defending himself from your anger,” Judge Sweeney said. The judge also said Moody had a long record of offending, including multiple assaults, and needed to take responsibility for his anger management and drug abuse issues, but acknowledged he had experienced a difficult childhood, witnessing domestic abuse, which likely contributed to those problems. State prosecutor Hannah Pike recommended Moody be sentenced to an immediate term of imprisonment but Judge Sweeney said sending him to prison would cost him his job and make it harder for him to deal with problems. “On the one hand you can’t keep doing this sort of thing … on the other hand I have a man who is 28 … who has come from a background of disadvantage … I know that if I imprison you that job will disappear and you will return to that cycle,” she said. Judge Sweeney decided not to make a final decision on Moody’s sentence, instead giving him a pre-sentence order, in the hope he would receive treatment for his issues over the next nine months. A final decision will be made in February, based on if Moody follows the order.