A callous teenage burglar “cried wolf” after she was caught by a cleaner breaking into a bowling club, only for the cleaner to be savagely beaten by two strangers who believed he was the criminal.

Tamara Dimer, pictured, was jailed for six years for her part in the bizarre break and enter at the Manning Bowling Club last year, which led to life-changing injuries for the 33-year-old staff member who stumbled upon the forced entry in the early hours.

The District Court was told the staff member followed Dimer, 19, up the street after she had been sprung and ran away.

Camera Icon Police at the scene of the violent incident outside Manning Bowling Club. Credit: Trevor Collens

When she started screaming and calling for help, two strangers sleeping at a nearby house came into the street and began brutally beating the innocent man with a hockey stick, leaving him with skull, facial and ankle fractures, and a traumatic brain injury.

As the beating went on, Dimer sat on a nearby letterbox and did nothing — only getting involved to rifle through the stricken man’s pockets as he lay bleeding.

While it was accepted that Dimer did not carry out the beating, Judge Amanda Burrows said she was the cause of it, and did nothing to stop it as it continued.

“If she hadn’t gone screaming for help, then this incident would never have occurred,” Judge Burrows said. “Her actions thereafter ... don’t indicate that there was any attempt to have them desist. She was the instigator of this incident.

Camera Icon Police investigate the brutal bashing - sparked by the Tamara Dimer’s burglary. Credit: Trevor Collens

“I view her as equally culpable in this matter as the two perpetrators who actually struck the blows.”

The court was told the victim now lives in a rehab centre, has trouble sleeping and talking, has horrible headaches, had separated from his partner and six-year-old son, and could not work.

“The impact that your actions have had upon this man’s life are profound,” Judge Burrows said. “His life will never be the same.”

The judge also said she was “bewildered” that prosecutors had submitted that Dimer might not have to go to prison immediately for her crime. “I do not consider that you played a lesser role in the offence,” she said. “If it were not for your actions the offence would not have occurred, and you did nothing to stop it being continued.

“You went rifling through the complainant’s pockets ... when he was beaten and vulnerable and prone on the ground.”

Dimer was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm. She will be eligible for parole in three years.