Two mates have admitted bashing a driver waiting in a Covid testing queue.
Shocking footage played to Sutherland Local Court shows Hussein Saleh, 34, and Ali Salim, 35, punching and stamping on their victim through his sunroof at the drive-through testing clinic in Carlton, Sydney.
The victim and his female passenger were waiting to be tested for more than three hours on December 28, 2021, when Saleh’s wife cut in front of them in her Lexus, the St George Shire Standard reported.
Two mates brazenly and violently attacked a driver waiting in a Covid testing line. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis
The driver and passenger got out of their car and approached Saleh’s wife, before returning to their vehicle and beeping the horn at her.
Saleh and Salim arrived at the scene shortly afterwards.
Saleh then tried to smash the victim’s window with a screwdriver and broke the wing mirror.
Salim got into the back of the victim’s car and punched him in the head, before Saleh climbed on top of the car and punched the driver on the head through the sunroof.
He then stamped his foot onto the driver and his passenger.
The two attackers then fled before police arrived.
Hussein Saleh (left) and Ali Salim (right) pleaded guilty in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis
Michael Ayache, defending Saleh and Salim in court, said Saleh’s “instinct was to protect his family” and that he had made a “very poor decision to overreact”.
The pair were sorry for their actions, Mr Ayache added.
Salim and Saleh both pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
Saleh also pleaded guilty to damaging property.
They will be sentenced on March 28.