A man woke up from a drug-induced blackout to find his flatmate bludgeoning him with a hammer.

Chef Harry Sumantri loaned pal Kevin Arden $52,000 (£29,000) to invest into his hand sanitiser sales business but was brutally beaten after he asked for repayments in May 2020.

The pair appeared at Downing Centre District Court in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday where Mr Sumantri delivered a powerful victim impact statement, with Arden listening via video link.

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Arden pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder inside their Sydney apartment but a jury disagreed and found him guilty.

In lending Arden the equivalent of £29,000, Mr Sumantri set a deadline for the money to be repaid and with it imminent Arden struck by spiking his flatmate's ginger drink.

The court heard how Arden slipped doxylamine, an over-the-counter sleeping pill, into his beverage which sent a suddenly drowsy Mr Sumantri to sleep around 4pm.

What happened next has left Mr Sumantri struggling to get over a fear of the dark as he opened his eyes to Arden battering him with a hammer in a darkened room.

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On Wednesday Mr Sumantri told judge Sarah Huggett and the jury in court: “It took a long time to fall asleep because it reminded me of what happened.

“He’s a dangerous person because he was planning to kill me, which is not a human thing to do.”

It was only when another housemate forced his way into the room that Arden stopped.

If his mental scars from the attack were one thing, Mr Sumantri's physical injuries were quite another, forcing him out of work and without an income for 12 months.

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Mr Sumantri suffered head fractures, a broken left hand and cuts and abrasions in the attack.

Blood in “considerable quantities” was found splattered across a wall where the assault took place.

The jury rejected Arden's claim that Mr Sumantri started the fight. Arden will be sentenced by Judge Huggett next month.

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