About 6.30pm on December 10, 2009, three men forced their way into Peter Shearer’s home and brutally bashed him. Mr Shearer’s injuries were so extensive he was airlifted to Canberra Hospital where he was treated for a skull fracture, broken eye socket and internal bleeding.

The attackers had punched and kicked Mr Shearer while he lay on the ground and only left him alone when his mother, Elaine, saw what was going on. They pushed the elderly woman over as they ran off.

“I don’t remember much about the attack,” Mr Shearer said.

“I woke up on a stretcher with a policeman talking to me and I remember the airport in Canberra and then I woke up.”

Mr Shearer said he was bruised from head to toe and underwent multiple surgeries. His body bore evidence of strangulation, there was blood on his brain and doctors had to put a plate in his cheek to fix the broken eye socket.

Since the attack, Mr Shearer experienced anxiety whenever he hears someone shout, or hears a knock at the door. Groups of men make him afraid.

Even though the outer body has healed, the former farm worker has been unable to go back to work, suffering from brain injuries which made him a shadow of his former self.

“I was normal before,” Mr Shearer said.

“Now I can’t work because I’ve got a bad memory. I’ve also got post-traumatic stress (PTSD).”

Even after six years of therapy and treatment, Mr Shearer said he was constantly on medication and has regular visits to the doctor.

Worst of all, the family home still doesn’t feel safe.

“We’ve got big barred security gates which never used to be locked but they’re padlocked all the time now,” he said.

“We’ve had to take extra security steps to protect ourselves.”

Mr Shearer said he hoped police would re-open his case and go back over everything to see if they could find his attackers.

“I want them to try to find the men who did this to me,” he said. “They shouldn’t get away with it.”