Peter Dracos, 70, says he continues to suffer both physically and emotionally after a violent, premeditated attack by his neighbour, retired ANZ bank manager David Tape, in Melbourne’s Albert Park last year.
Tape, 73, pleaded guilty on Thursday in the County Court to intentionally causing serious injury with gross violence.
The court heard Tape had laid down a blue tarp over the white floors of his architect-designed home and donned rubber gloves before using knives and a sharpened screwdriver to slash Dracos’s face and gouge one of his eyes.
Dracos, who had lived in the same Little O’Grady Street house for decades, had long been in a dispute with Tape, who moved in across the street in 2022. Tape claimed Dracos regularly disturbed his sleep in the early hours of the morning.
The court heard Dracos cried out “he’s trying to kill me” and “enough is enough” during the 3.30am attack. He nearly died from blood loss, lost vision in one eye, and lives with severe nerve damage.
In a victim impact statement, Dracos said the trauma “still haunts me and disturbs my sleep every night”, adding, “this does not feel like living.”
Tape told police he didn’t intend to kill Dracos but wanted the disturbances to stop.
“There was not going to be a fight to the death,” he said, calling his actions “a terrible, terrible, terrible, stupid thing.”
His barrister described the attack as “truly perplexing” for someone with no history of violence.
Tape faces a mandatory minimum of four years behind bars and is expected to be sentenced next month.
Source: Herald Sun.
