Melbourne, Nov 9 (Inditop.com) India-born doctor and former head of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Mukesh Haikerwal’s skull was heard to crack as he was savagely assaulted with a baseball bat by a group of teenagers in a suburb here last year, a court has been told.
Haikerwal was struck on the head four or five times with the bat by Alfer Azzopardi, 20, during the attack in a park at Williamstown in September 2008, the Victorian County Court heard.
A 16-year-old boy also struck the doctor with the baseball bat.
The court was informed that after one of the blows the doctor’s skull was heard to crack and he was also kicked, reports the Australian Associated Press (AAP).
Azzopardi, Michael Baltatzis, 20, and Sean Gabriel, 20, have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the attack.
The much respected doctor was attacked by the group that went on an one-hour rampage, attacking four other people in a five-km radius on the night of Sep 27, 2008.
Haikerwal required emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma for 24 hours. He remained in hospital for two months.
Many of the targets were of Indian or Asian origin.
A champion of public health, Haikerwal is a member of the Australian government’s National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and chair of the World Medical Association Finance and Planning Committee.
Haikerwal was born in Lucknow, but grew up in Britain. In 1990, he moved to Australia and set up a medical general practice in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
