Police are searching for the perpetrator of a cowardly unprovoked bashing of an elderly blind man recently at the Orrong Hotel.
64-year-old Darren Rout is visually impaired, wearing strong glasses, requiring a cane and fitted with a prosthetic eye.
On 25 July he was drinking with a mate at the Orrong, in Armadale.
Around 7pm his friend went to the bar and Rout was approached by an unknown man, who sat at his table in the other seat. Rout asked politely “please could you move” but the request was denied.
After asking again, the victim says “all I remember next was that’s when the punches started”.
CCTV footage shows the friend trying in vain to shield them both from the assault, but it continued.
Rout says when his prosthetic eye was knocked out, subsequently damaged on the pub floor, he was a “shaky mess” and the assailant became “just a shape against the window”.
He also suffered a fractured nose, chipped teeth and required five stitches to his right eye.
Footage shows the suspect had previously been in both the bistro and the bar. He is described as bald with a short black beard, medium build, likely in his late 30s.
The perpetrator fled the scene before staff could react, last seen heading down Orrong Road in the company of a woman.
First Constable David Milivojac says the CCTV footage of the attack was stark, with the assailant striking the older man “consistently one after the other … over a dozen times”.
Police are hunting for the offender and have released an image of a person of interest, urging him to hand himself in and “face the consequences”.
The prosthetic eye, which had to be replaced, costs around $5k, atop the cost of the prescription multi-focal glasses, which were also broken in the attack.
Yet Rout, who refuses to let the incident affect his life, vows to return to the Orrong Hotel. The pub is operated by Matt Vero and Scott Connolly, who reopened it in late 2021.
Anyone with information on the identity of the man is being asked to contact Victoria Police.
