Man avoids jail after bashing burglar unconscious in citizen's arrest
The man who bashed a burglar unconscious during a citizen's arrest at his family's WA business has avoided jail.
Shane Fisher and his father were alerted to a break in at the family's lawn and garden equipment store in April 2016.
The would-be thief had rammed the Mandurah store's roller door to gain access, triggering an alarm.
When Mr Fisher and his father arrived, they found the man loading store products onto a trailer.
Mr Fisher chased the intruder around the loaded trailer and punched him at least 15 times to the head while he was on the ground.
Fisher then called an ambulance to the scene.
The entire incident was captured on the store's CCTV.
The court heard the 38-year-old burglar was knocked unconscious and suffered a brain injury in the attack.
He then spent weeks in hospital recovering from the assault.
Fisher pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm at an earlier court appearance.
"This is a totally unexpected event, that was unintended and (Fisher) deeply regrets what took place," Fisher's lawyer Max Crispe said.
On Thursday, prosecutors claimed Fisher had been seeking retribution for previous break ins at the family business, and inflicted a vicious assault.
But the judge disagreed and said while Fisher overreacted, the would-be thief had taken him by surprise.
She said she had no doubt Fisher was afraid and panicked at the time, and took that into account.
Fisher was handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence while the would-be thief is yet to be sentenced over the burglary.