Man used victim’s phone to admit he went ‘overboard’ after humiliating Aussie surfer before killing him in ‘brutal attack’

An Aussie surfer was forced to strip naked in a series of humiliating acts before he was killed over a dispute about $50, a court has been told. His killer then went on to use his phone for months after the “brutal” assault, admitting that he had gone “overboard” and had taken someone’s life. Jayson Brett Dal Molin has admitted to causing the death of surfer Guy Haymes at a Manly apartment on Sydney’s northern beaches in 2024 after he became “fixated” on $50 he claimed the surfer had stolen from him. Mr Haymes, 59, had gone to the apartment to purchase marijuana when Dal Molin, then aged 41, locked and stood by the front door and announced “No one’s leaving until I get my money”, Judge Jennie Girdham SC told the NSW District Court on Wednesday. He demanded the older man, who weighed just 49kg and had a series of health conditions, to strip naked and later perform a headstand while clothed, grabbing him by his ankles and hoisting him into the air. Dal Molin then launched a “brutal attack” on Mr Haymes, repeatedly hitting him in the head even as someone else present in the apartment offered up their own $50 in a bid to stop the assault. He brushed off disclosures that the surfer had a heart condition and calls to stop the attack, saying: “I don’t care, he shouldn’t have taken my $50.” He later told another man present in the apartment to make sure Mr Haymes stayed alive because “I f--king battered the c--t”, but he did not call an ambulance for his victim. When police arrived to do a welfare check, Dal Molin claimed no one else was in the apartment and there had been no assault, with paramedics finding Mr Haymes under the covers in a bed with dried blood on his bruised face shortly after. Mr Haymes suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and did not regain consciousness following the attack. He was transferred to palliative care after nearly two weeks in the intensive care unit and died just three days later on March 15, with his younger brother Mark speaking of having to take on the heart-wrenching responsibility of making treatment decisions in a victim impact statement tendered to the court. Dal Molin pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter last December and was jailed for at least four years on Wednesday for the “brutal” assault. “Whilst relatively short in duration, in the circumstances it was a brutal attack,” Judge Girdham said. Killer used victim’s phone Dal Molin used his victim’s phone for nearly four months before he was arrested in June, using it to make several admissions that he had killed someone and gone “overboard”, the court was told. The court was told Dal Molin was so drunk on the day of the attack that he couldn’t even remember arriving at the apartment and had no memory of the assault nor the admissions he made in the months following. He was previously asked in court if he had been trying to humiliate his victim by making him take off his clothes and do a headstand, replying: “It sounds that way, yes.” Family ‘lost’ after death Mr Haymes’ family repeatedly asked themselves “how do we move on?” as they struggled to navigate their profound grief, Judge Girdham said while summarising their victim impact statements. “They are lost, damaged and confused,” Judge Girdham said. Mr Haymes’ brother, Mark, becomes “highly emotional when memories of his brother arise unexpectedly” and fears for the community’s future. “In a touching tribute to his brother’s memory, he seeks for the community to focus on preventing violence,” Judge Girdham said. Dal Molin, who had only met Mr Haymes that day, did not mean to kill the older man but did intend to injure him, the court found. He is remorseful, writing that he “never thought he’d be the person in front of the court … taking the life of another” in a letter to the court while stating that nothing he says will bring his victim’s life back. Judge Girdham spoke of Dal Molin’s disadvantaged childhood, his mental health conditions and spiral into alcoholism and drug abuse. By 1989 he was drinking every day, which quickly escalated to consuming about two litres of wine and a bottle of spirits per day in his 20s. He was drinking a similar amount daily around the time of the attack. Dal Molin has now been sober for 22 months, the longest he has ever refrained from drugs and alcohol, and is close to finishing a baking traineeship in custody. Judge Girdham emphasised the importance of Dal Molin committing to rehabilitation and maintaining his medications. Dal Molin was sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment over the attack. He will be eligible for release on parole in March 2029 after serving his non-parole period of four years and nine months.