Melbourne, Nov 9 (IANS) India-born doctor Mukesh Haikerwal was so savagely attacked here with a baseball bat a year ago that shocked witnesses heard his skull crack, an Australian court heard.
The former head of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) was struck on the head four or five times with the bat in a park at Williamstown on Sep 7, 2008, the Victorian County Court heard.

The court was informed that after cracking his skull, the attackers also kicked him, reports the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

Alfer Azzopardi, 20, Michael Baltatzis, 20, and Sean Gabriel, 20, have pleaded guilty to attacking him. Azzopardi and a 16-year-old boy used the bat to hit the much respected doctor.

The group went on an one-hour rampage, attacking four other people in a five-kilometre radius that night.

Haikerwal required emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma for 24 hours. He remained in hospital for two months.

Most of the other targets were of Indian or Asian origin.

A champion of public health, Haikerwal is a member of the Australian government’s National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and chair of the World Medical Association Finance and Planning Committee.

Haikerwal was born in Lucknow, but grew up in Britain. In 1990, he moved to Australia and set up a medical general practice in Melbourne’s western suburbs.