General News
2 July, 2025
Brutal daylight attack - 79-year-old beaten in Mareeba CBD
RELATIVES of a 79-year-old man who was brutally beaten outside Mareeba IGA last Thursday in broad daylight are angry over the attack which has left their family member with shocking injuries.
Joe Manitta was putting his groceries in a car parked in Atherton Street just near the IGA entrance on Thursday around 12.45pm when he was attacked by a man who gave him an upper cut to his face, knocked him to the ground and kicked him before running off.
The attack snapped both Mr Manitta’s arms near the shoulders, and left him with a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose, other fractures in his body, internal bleeding and grazed and bruised legs.
“He’s also got bone fragments floating in his head somewhere from when the bones were shattered,” daughter Sonja-Lee Manitta-Bailey told The Express on Monday.
Mr Manitta is currently in Mareeba Hospital but will be taken to Cairns for surgery in the coming weeks once he is stabilised.
Doctors have told his relatives it will take months for Mr Manitta to recover.
Ms Manitta-Bailey spoke to The Express in a bid to raise awareness about what her father went through and to ask witnesses to come forward and speak to police.
“We are living in a war zone and when people like my father are being attacked in broad daylight and his life is literally on the line – who’s going to give us answers?” she said.
“This shouldn’t be happening, not in a town like this.”
“Cars are being stolen, houses are being broken into, the elderly are now being attacked, what’s happening to this town? The community has had enough, what are they going to do about this?
“No one is safe – if an elderly person in broad daylight doesn’t have some sense of security to be able to go to a shopping centre to get their groceries, there’s something wrong.
“I’ve lived in Mareeba my whole life, but things have changed in the last three years, it’s getting worse.
“We want justice – dad is broken, he seems to be in fear and shock at what has happened and confused at this stage.
“He is unable to feed, toilet or care for himself and we don’t know what’s ahead of him in terms of recovering, they say he will be in hospital for months,” she said, adding her father also has a heart condition.
Ms Manitta-Bailey said witnesses to the incident told her that a man came up behind her father as he was entering his vehicle and gave him an upper cut to the face, punched him, before knocking him to the ground and kicking him.
The man then ran across Atherton Street near the kebab shop, while a woman came to her father’s aid on the ground. The man then came back across the road and around the vehicle to return to the scene but upon seeing the woman, he fled.
“The thing is they didn’t take any money, my dad still had cash in his pocket. I believe the man came back to the scene to get the money but he ran away when he saw the woman helping him,” Ms Manitta-Bailey said.
“We think that maybe the man who attacked him may have seen him earlier playing pokies at a local hotel and followed him to rob him.”
Witnesses said there was no discussion between Mr Manitta and the man before the attack.
Mr Manitta’s car was attacked the Sunday previously when he stopped at KFC. During that incident, the passenger window was smashed and offenders took some small change from the console.
Ms Manitta-Bailey is shocked and appalled by what happened to her father, who just moved back to Mareeba from Cairns three months ago to be near other family members.
A Facebook post by Ms Manitta-Bailey triggered nearly 200 comments, with locals expressing outrage and some wanting to take the law into their own hands.
Many are also calling for CCTV and police patrols to protect people in the CBD, especially older people who are considered to be easy targets.
Tablelands CIB detectives are investigating the attack and have asked any witnesses to the incident to come forward.
“We want anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward and contact Mareeba police or call Crimestoppers if they want to remain anonymous,” Detective Sergeant Vince Marcel said.
