49-year-old SoCal farmworker remains hospitalized weeks after being robbed, beaten with bat

ROSAMOND, Calif. (KABC) -- The family of a local farmworker is seeking answers and justice weeks after he was attacked, beaten with a bat and left for dead in the High Desert.

Vicente Cortez, 49, was left barely conscious and has been hospitalized since the July 30 attack in Rosamond near Lancaster.

The victim told his sister, Maria Cortez, that he and friend were resting after a long day of work as an undocumented farmworker when they were attacked. They were in a trailer on the side of the road at 50th Street West and Avenue W when two men made their way onto his trailer, screaming they wanted money and weapons.

Before Cortez could react, he and his friend were beaten. Maria says the men not only took her brother's money - $600, the only money he had - but also got away with his documents of identification.

While Cortez remains hospitalized with extensive injuries, his friend was treated for bumps and bruises and released.

His sister told Eyewitness News she doesn't understand how somebody could do that to a human being, adding that nobody deserves that.

Maria says that the attack on her brother was done with brutal aggression and that the men were trying to take his life.

The suspects fled the scene, but Maria says a crime report has been filed and she hopes investigators find the suspects who attacked her brother and his friend.