The defendant stopped walking and challenged the victim saying: “Are you looking at me?”.
Putting his fists up, Hollander advanced towards the man before forcefully punching him in the head multiple times.
The force knocked the man to the ground, where he lost consciousness.
When he stood up, he held a piece of clothing over a 10cm long, gaping wound on his forehead which was bleeding.
Hollander was angry and blamed the victim for instigating the altercation.
Nearby, young families who had been enjoying picnics called the police.
The victim received five stitches above his eye and suffered a badly sprained ankle, the court heard.
He suffered from headaches, anxiety and was “struggling to cope”, being diagnosed with PTSD as a result of the attack.
“Mr Hollander is particularly concerned given the victim has PTSD. It is something he can very much relate to,” counsel Meg Scally said.
“The PTSD informed his offending, it causes him to be hyper-vigilant to threats or perceived threats.”
Being abused in state care, suffering at the hands of Cherry Farm staff and decades of PTSD were “imposed on him” rather than born out of his own life choices, Scally said.
Hollander had reportedly engaged in eight years of therapy as well as committing to lifestyle changes and wanted to see if he could function without the clonazepam he had been taking for a number of years.
“You knew your background, you knew your propensity for violence, you knew overall that drug was helping you overcome those difficulties you had experienced 10-15 years earlier. You stopped taking the medication arbitrarily,” Judge Kevin Phillips said.
Hollander was convicted of wounding with intent to injure and sentenced to two years, two months’ imprisonment.
