A 76-year-old Coles Bay man who was beaten with a crowbar, bound and left in his yard while his home was set alight has taken a turn for the worse in hospital, his son-in-law says.
Grant Whelan was attacked by two masked men who allegedly broke into his home around 5am on Saturday, stealing nine registered firearms, cash and his ute before burning the house to the ground.
Reed Hooker, Whelan’s son-in-law, told ABC Radio that Whelan had been doing reasonably well but suffered bleeding and fluid on the lungs on Sunday, putting strain on his heart.
“Unfortunately he’s had some nasty bleeding and fluid on the lungs and that’s put quite a bit of stress on his heart,” Hooker said.
“He was moved up into the cardiac unit to sort of monitor that.”
Police say two men wearing balaclavas and dark clothing forced their way into the home and assaulted Whelan with a crowbar, repeatedly demanding access to his firearms safe.
The men bound him with cable ties, dragged him into the yard and set the house alight.
Hooker said Whelan had been left outside for around three hours, bound and gagged, before an off-duty firefighter noticed the glow around 7am and called it in.
“He managed to get the thing off his head to watch his house burn down,” Hooker said.
The local fire brigade arrived expecting a grass fire but instead found the home ablaze and Whelan making “whimpering sounds” nearby.
Hooker said Whelan, a former crayfisherman and president of the Glamorgan Gun and Rifle Club, had kept his firearms locked in a safe and had internal security cameras installed.
He suggested the attackers may have burned the house down after spotting the cameras.
Whelan’s daughter Chantel Yates launched a fundraiser, saying her father did not have insurance and had lost everything, including “his clothes, his furniture, his tools, a lifetime of photographs and the Bravery Medal he was proudest of”.
Whelan received the Bravery Medal in 1995 after rescuing a crewman from the sea when a crayboat was wrecked off Tasmania’s West Coast in 1993.
Before fleeing, the attackers stole his white 1998 Toyota Hilux, which was found almost fully submerged under the Apsley River Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
Police say their investigations are ongoing.
