David Keohane's family think he's special because he volunteered for Lifeline, counselled kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, "smiled with his eyes" and represented NSW in Gaelic football.
But walking alone down a deserted Sydney street was the only thing that singled out the Irishman in the early hours of August 9, 2008.
The 29-year-old was set upon by two men who had been drinking at the nearby Coogee Bay Hotel.
They bashed and robbed him, leaving him for dead on the side of the road.
Now, Mr Keohane is relearning how to eat and go to the toilet after spending seven months in a coma and more than a year in hospital recovering from the attack.
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The only man to be charged over the assault was acquitted of attempted murder in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday.
The jury took just over a day to deliberate before returning the verdict to an expressionless Thomas Isaako, 21, of Bankstown.
They had been told Mr Keohane's whole face was fractured when Isaako hit him to the ground and, together with his friend, repeatedly punched him.
Doctors said he was lucky to survive, and initially told his family he probably only had six to nine months to live.
"I remember during this time (my sister) Sinead and I ringing his voicemail just to hear the sound of his voice," his sister Carol Elizabeth Keohane said in a victim impact statement read to the court.
"It was soul-destroying and heartbreaking to see such a fit and active young man travel back (to Ireland) unconscious with no control over his body and no awareness that he was even leaving Australia and the successful life he had built for himself."
Isaako has pleaded guilty to robbery in company and inflicting grievous bodily harm, but denied intending to kill Mr Keohane, a permanent resident of Australia.
When asked why he didn't call for an ambulance when he saw Keohane bleeding and unconscious on the ground, Isaako told police: "I was just in my own world".
Speaking outside court, Mr Keohane's father said he was "very disappointed" with the jury's verdict.
"I feel that it's my son who has been given a life sentence for being a great young man," an emotional Tom Keohane told reporters.
"So, I just hope the judge comes down hard on this guy (when sentencing him for the lesser charges) ... and I hope he rots in f***ing hell."
In her victim impact statement, read on behalf of the whole family, Ms Keohane said her brother was struggling with rehabilitation after being so independent.
"(After being discharged from hospital) he became very aggressive, depressed and I can remember his anger and his frustrations," she said.
"I can recall having conversations with David and him telling me he didn't know how he would live with these restrictions in his life.
"He struggles at times coming to terms with the simplicity of some of the things he has to be taught ... we all live in hope."
Outside court, Ms Keohane called on the public to help find the second man involved in her brother's attack.
Police want to interview 20-year-old New Zealander Kane Desmond Tupuolamaoui.
"There's still somebody else who hasn't been caught for this crime - that Kane is still out there and if anybody knows of his whereabouts, where he is, what he's doing, they should contact the police," Ms Keohane said.
Judge Ronald Soloman will hear sentencing submissions for the attack and a second unrelated violent robbery on Friday.
Isaako is expected to be sentenced on April 23.
