James Alistair Cleverly: Former nurse avoids jail for Anzac Day attack on elderly neighbour

A former nurse has avoided immediate prison after nearly gouging his elderly neighbour’s eye, leaving his victim with numerous injuries on Anzac Day last year. James Alistair Cleverly, 50, appeared in Albany District Court on May 9 on one count of aggravated assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of aggravated home burglary and commit. On April 25, 2023, Cleverly went to his 78-year-old neighbour’s house and pushed him in the chest and into the house where he assaulted him. The elderly victim escaped and ran to a neighbour’s house, begging Cleverly to stop, telling him “stop, stop, I’m an old b......”. Cleverly ignored the elderly man’s cries and stabbed him in the face with a kitchen fork. Escaping a second time, the victim ran to another neighbour’s house where the residents locked the doors and called emergency services. The elderly victim sustained a large haematoma above his eye, multiple grazes to his face, a grazed and tender thigh, and fractured ribs. District Court Judge Wendy Gillan said the events were serious and aggravated by the victim’s age and smaller stature. “The fact that he was a smaller man and this happened . . . at his home,” she said. “He was your neighbour and it was unprovoked and it was persistent and he did suffer injuries to his body and his face and the eye. “The possibility of a real risk of injury to his eye from gouging is real and stabbing him with the fork, really, there could have been much more serious injuries but his injuries were pretty serious as it was.” Judge Gillan acknowledged Cleverly’s experience with mental health and that he had stopped taking his medication before the attack, describing him as “floridly unwell” at the time of his arrest. Judge Gillian determined Cleverly would be better off serving his sentence in the community, where he could receive support, than in prison. She sentenced him to 2½ years jail, which was conditionally suspended for two years with program and supervision requirements. “I don’t think prison is good for you at all, Mr Cleverly, not at all, and I don’t think the community is improved by having you in prison,” she said. “I think the community is vastly improved by having you attend to your mental health in the community and properly.”