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WOMAN BASHED GETTING COFFEE IN CBD AS STATS REVEAL ...
GEELONG now has the third highest number of criminals in the state, second only to Melbourne City and Casey.
The stats come after a weekend of assaults across the city that saw a woman hit in the CBD, a man stabbed at a party in Lara and a teenager attacked in Corio.
Tiarna Foord was in Moorabool St getting a cup of coffee when she was hit in a random attack yesterday morning.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared,” she said.
AN 18-YEAR-OLD woman has been left traumatised after she was viciously assaulted as she walked through central Geelong to buy her morning coffee.
The teen was one of more than half a dozen people hospitalised at the weekend during a string of violent assaults and brawls that saw a young man stabbed at a Lara party and a 15-year-old girl struck at Corio.
Tiarna Foord, of Norlane, said she was walking along Moorabool St, near Malop St, to buy a coffee before work when a stranger attacked her from behind about 7.50am yesterday.
The game design student said she was struck multiple times to the right side of her face as she screamed for help.
The unknown offender, a woman believed to be aged in her 30s with only one tooth, continued to throw punches.
“I was on the phone to my mum so I didn’t take any notice of this woman walking behind me when all of a sudden she just punched me to the right cheek and arm while swearing,” she recalled.
“Mum heard everything so she rushed down to get me while still in her pyjamas and took me to the police station.
“I had to get a CT scan and X-rays but luckily nothing is broken. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared.”
Ms Foord’s mother, Leanne, said that the phone call was every mother’s worst nightmare.
“I worry about her every day she goes to study in Melbourne. I never thought she’d be unsafe here,” she said.
The string of violent incidents began at 4.45pm on Saturday with police and the force’s air wing attending a brawl at a unit complex on Coxon Pde in North Geelong.
Detective Sergeant Duncan Frame said two feuding families came armed with weapons and, during the affray, two men suffered serious injuries.
Three others fled in a car but were later tracked to a property on Atkins Rd in Buckley where police found a man suffering critical head injuries and a broken ankle.
“We’ve had two parties come together over a familyrelated dispute. Two have come armed with a crowbar and an aluminium spirit level,” Sgt Frame said.
“The altercation has resulted in one male suffering a bro- ken ankle as another got into a car.
That man has then driven towards the others, which resulted in a second man suffering a broken ankle and head injuries.”
At 11pm officers responded to reports of a brawl involving more than a dozen youths in Cohuna Ct, Lara. A teenage girl suffered facial injuries.
Then at 11.40pm, paramedics responded to reports that a man had been stabbed multiple times at a party in Lara.
Detective Senior-Constable Jason Tom said police were appealing for witnesses to the Kevs Rd incident, which left two people injured.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said five people were taken to Geelong hospital for treatment for a range of assault-related injuries including critical head damage, rib fractures and leg injuries.
They included: A MAN in his 30s with facial and leg injuries taken in a serious but stable condition; A MAN in his 30s with head injuries taken in a critical condition; A MAN in his 20s with a head injury taken in a serious but stable condition; A MALE teenager suffering rib, facial and neck injuries transported in a serious but stable condition; and A MAN in his 20s suffering rib and head injuries transported in a serious but stable condition.
Anyone with information on any of the incidents is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.