Among the list of Shane Anthony Patten’s crimes is when he attacked a man outside the Bega Courthouse in 2009. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article may distress some readers.
In a horrific attack on the NSW Far South Coast more than a decade ago, a man left a woman with permanent facial injuries and caused her to lose an eye after he repeatedly hit her in the face with a hammer.
This year, the State Government started trying to force the self-admittedly “very” violent man to comply with extra supervision for three years under the legislation for high-risk offenders.
The now-51-year-old Shane Anthony Patten, also known as Shane Heycox, was born in Moruya and has mostly lived around Narooma in recent times.
He has an extensive history of violent offences as well as a traumatic brain injury that he suffered due to a motor vehicle accident as a child, the NSW Supreme Court’s Justice Natalia Adams wrote in a published decision from last month.
On 20 September 2013, the then-39-year-old had been drinking alcohol before he got into an argument with a woman and hit her in the face with a hammer at least twice.
Another person in the house woke to find Patten standing over the top of the woman, who was covered in blood, with a hammer in one hand and a metal bar in the other.
The woman suffered life-threatening injuries including facial paralysis and multiple facial fractures while she also lost multiple teeth. She lost her eye in the attack and needed a prosthetic as a replacement.
Patten pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 12 years’ jail with nine years’ non-parole backdated to start that same year.
The sentencing judge declined to find he had shown any remorse, partly due to letters Patten wrote in which he described the woman as a “cyclops”. This is a creature from Greek and Roman mythology that only has one eye.
“I’m not crazy, I’m just very violence [sic],” Patten wrote.
“Like I said, ‘I don’t hate ya, I don’t hate anyone if I choose to be violence [sic] then that’s no-one else’s business but mine. I’m the one that makes my choice. I can live with it.'”
By the time of the hammer attack, he had already committed numerous offences and served multiple jail sentences.
For example, he got into an altercation with other players at a sports oval after being asked to stop swearing in front of children in February 1999. He left the oval, but returned with a piece of timber that he used to hit a victim in the head.
In October 2001, he repeatedly asked a man to fight him, then later went to the man’s fishing boat and slashed his arm and face with a 30 cm knife, leaving him with permanent damage to his arm.
Then in September 2002, he punched and kicked another inmate at the Goulburn Correctional Centre, breaking his arm.
Lastly, he was driving past the Bega Courthouse in February 2009 when he saw a man he knew standing outside so ran towards him, threatened him and pushed him onto the concrete, knocking him unconscious.
He was released on parole in April 2023, but was returned to custody in January 2025 to serve the balance of his parole.
Justice Adams said he was supported by government benefits when in the community, had eight children with five women, a lengthy history of substance abuse and was a binge drinker.
She said to impose an extended supervision order (ESO), a court must be satisfied a defendant posed an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence if not kept under supervision.
Patten’s lawyers disputed this at a preliminary hearing, as a psychologist for high risk offenders at Corrective Services NSW thought he posed a moderate risk of violent reoffending.
His lawyers also said he had been doing well on parole until he was returned to custody and had spent some periods of time in the community offence-free prior to the hammer attack.
But Justice Adams was satisfied the matters alleged in supporting documents would, if proved, justify the making of an ESO.
She ordered Patten be subject to a one-month interim supervision order (ISO), but said as he was still in custody serving the balance of his parole at the time of her order, the ISO would only begin when he was released.
The hearing for the ESO application will take place on 8 December.
Anyone impacted by sexual, domestic or family violence can contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578.
Is this the dumbest and wokiest Council in NSW? Like a three year old after a litre of raspberry… View