Sickening moment when two men brutally beat up a couple who had complained about the attacker’s wife stepping out of line at a Covid testing center
- Two plead guilty to assault in a row for Covid tests
- Couple attacked driver waiting in drive-through line
- Hussein Saleh and Ali Salim have yet to be sentenced
Two men have pleaded guilty to a terrifying attack on a driver waiting to be tested for Covid during the height of the pandemic.
Footage shows Hussein Saleh, 34, and Ali Salim, 35, stopping at a Covid drive-through test line in Carlton, a Sydney suburb in southern Sydney, on December 28, 2021.
The two then attack a couple in a LandCruiser Prado, with Saleh watching the victims punch and stomp through a sunroof as the vehicle rolls forward.
A statement of agreed facts delivered to Sutherland’s local court on Tuesday stated that Saleh’s wife, driving a white Lexus, cut into line at an intersection in front of the LandCruiser, whose driver and passenger had already waited three hours .
The male LandCruiser driver and female passenger got out and approached the Lexus before getting back into their car and beeping loudly.
Saleh’s wife called him and a short time later he arrived with his old friend Salim when their white truck pulled up next to the LandCruiser.
Hussein Saleh can be seen climbing onto the roof of a Prado to launch as an attack on the driver of the vehicle waiting in line for Covid testing in Sydney in 2021
After attempting to smash the driver’s window with a screwdriver and break the rear-view mirror on the driver’s side, Saleh climbed on top of the vehicle.
He then stomped through the sunroof onto the driver and passenger, raining punches down on them.
Salim managed to get into the back seat of the LandCruiser where he hit the driver on the head causing injury.
During the attack, the LandCruiser rolled forward and collided with the rear of the Lexus containing Saleh’s wife and also his mother, and the collision shunted other cars into each other.
Saleh and Salim pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and common assault, while Saleh also pleaded guilty to damaging property over the incident.
Police prosecutor Sergeant James Glissan told the court the men had indulged in “vigilance” that endangered the safety of those queuing, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Lawyers for both men, Michael Ayache, said Saleh reacted instinctively because his wife called him screaming in terror.
Saleh has pleaded guilty to the sickening attack in which he stomped and punched a driver and passenger
“His instinct was to protect his family and that got him to the point where he really lost sight of what he should have done,” Ayache said.
Mr Ayache said the pandemic had caused high levels of stress for everyone, including LandCruiser occupants who expressed frustration at their belief that the Lexus had jumped in line.
He said his client made a “very bad decision to overreact,” it was an isolated incident, the driver had no permanent injuries and both men were remorseful.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly adjourned the case for sentencing on March 28.
