Melbourne rapper Dakota McAllan allegedly attacked a Colombian man with a hockey stick, leaving him bleeding in an alley after an assault partly connected to an arts program backed by taxpayer-funded grants.
McAllan, 26, who performs as Kiid Koda, appeared in Melbourne County Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to intentionally causing serious injury.
The incident began on July 7, 2024, when McAllan was having sex with his girlfriend inside his mother’s Hyundai SUV in a South Melbourne laneway behind Tope Street.
According to evidence presented in court, the Colombian man struck the vehicle’s window and gestured for the couple to leave before McAllan drove out of the laneway.
McAllan and his girlfriend then watched the intoxicated man walk along the street, trying the doors of parked cars, prosecutors said.
McAllan later contacted his cousin, Louis Zaza, asking him to come to South Melbourne and help attack the man. The court heard he said they “gotta bash this c***”.
Zaza, 30, also appeared in court on Thursday after pleading guilty to intentionally causing serious injury.
Prosecutors said messages exchanged by the pair demonstrated that they had “planned and agreed to inflict serious injury” on the victim.
Dakota McAllan, 26, appeared in Melbourne County Court after pleading guilty to intentionally causing serious injury
McAllan, who has a young child, told Zaza that the victim “looked like a crackhead” and had been “pushing trolleys into cars”.
“Make sure we ain’t comin for no reason, word,” Zaza replied.
McAllan answered: “Bro, he punched my window.”
“Keep him around,” Zaza wrote.
He added: “He ain’t going anywhere, wanna make sure he here when we pull up.”
McAllan replied: “Yep, he’s in front of me, I can jump him but I don’t know if he got a knife.
“Still have to bash this c*** but I was in an alleyway and I don’t know how many there was, I just drove out of there but there’s only one.”
“It’s calm, see you soon, you good,” Zaza replied.
When Zaza arrived, McAllan had a hockey stick that he had concealed inside the vehicle.
The two men entered the laneway and attacked the victim. Zaza held a lighter in his clenched fist, while McAllan struck the man with the hockey stick.
The court was shown CCTV footage of the 38-second assault. The video appeared to show McAllan repeatedly hitting the victim with the stick while he lay on the concrete, apparently asleep.
Zaza kicked the victim in the buttocks and punched him several times in the head.
Prosecutors said the man was hit about 20 times.
Zaza then raised the victim’s head and dragged him forward, revealing a large pool of blood on the concrete.
Melbourne rapper Dakota McAllan performed under the name Kiid Koda
CHECK THIS OUT: Southern California Honda Dealers Provide $15,000 in Free Gas to Los Angeles-Area Veterans
McAllan and Zaza left the scene, abandoning the victim in the laneway with blood streaming from his head.
The court heard the man made several attempts to stand but repeatedly collapsed into the pool of blood.
He eventually reached the street, where McAllan, his girlfriend and Zaza watched as he wandered back and forth.
McAllan, who works part-time as a model and actor and played semi-professional soccer for Sandringham SC in 2025, then drove Zaza and his girlfriend away.
Zaza, who was wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “F*** cancer”, was dropped off at the charity event he had attended before the attack.
Bystanders later found the victim stumbling through South Melbourne during the early hours and called police and an ambulance.
Police found him crying and visibly in pain, the court was told.
Officers returned to the laneway and found a substantial pool of blood.
The victim was taken to hospital with serious injuries, including bleeding on the brain and a fractured skull.
McAllan, a community volunteer and NDIS support worker, said his actions were linked to childhood experiences of witnessing his father assault his mother
He suffered headaches and dizziness for six weeks and was left with scarring and nerve damage.
Police identified the alleged attackers using CCTV footage and the SUV, then arrested McAllan at his Noble Park home. Officers seized the hockey stick, clothing and his mobile phone.
McAllan, a community volunteer and NDIS support worker, said he attacked the Colombian man after childhood memories of seeing his father assault his mother were triggered.
A defence psychological report said McAllan’s “sense of cowardice was fuelled by reliving experiences of helplessness in watching his father abuse his mother”.
“I was on autopilot,” McAllan said, explaining that he had lost “complete perspective and acted in a completely disproportionate violent way”.
Judge Gabriele Cannon asked whether McAllan had been affected by “any substances at the time”. After being told he had not, she said: “He was on autopilot for quite a while, wasn’t he?”
“He’s given a sort of noble explanation for why he behaved as he did, I’m not sure it was the only thing he was operating on at that time…”
“Getting stuck into someone who is vulnerable and his greatest… provocation was to punch a window whilst your client and his girlfriend were having sex.”
“I’m not sure how that then translates into your client going to be someone having experienced those things during his childhood.”
“But, then what, he’s going to champion the cause of women?”
The Sydney Morning Herald profiled McAllan last July after he was selected to perform in the Grid Series.
“Anybody who’s trying to be different, to bring a different sound, or think outside the box and do something that’s not the norm per se, we’re a country that shuns it or calls it cringe, tall poppy syndrome,” McAllan told the publication.
The Grid Series receives substantial support through federal, state and local government arts grants.
McAllan, of Noble Park, and Zaza, an Airbnb cleaner from Clyde North, remain in custody and are due to be sentenced on November 30.
EXPLORE MORE: Missouri Democratic State Rep Accused of Death Threat After Reelection