Accused basher in court
No bail for tattooed teen
A TEEN accused of a sickening one-punch attack in Geelong’s mall at the weekend has faced court.
Zachary Watkins, 19, appeared in custody at Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday after his arrest in Carlton earlier in the day.
The Werribee man is accused of knocking a man unconscious before slapping him to the face as he lay unresponsive on the ground at the intersection of Moorabool St, about 5.30pm Saturday.
The victim — a 36-year-old man from Corio — was left bleeding from the mouth.
During yesterday’s brief court hearing, a heavily tat- tooed Mr Watkins sat in the dock with his arms crossed and wearing a red-striped Nautica polo. His lawyer, Caetlyn Wells-Simon, made no application for bail.
While being led from the dock, Mr Watkins blew kisses to several females seated in the courtroom, telling them: “I love all of youse (sic)”.
His court appearance comes just weeks after a string of violent attacks on the infamous Little Malop St strip. The troubles have previously sparked calls for council to redesign the besieged mall.
In September the City of Greater Geelong said it and the State Government were considering a range of initiatives to improve the area with a new action plan to be drawn up.
But when asked yesterday about the status of the action plan — last spruiked in 2017 — the City refused to comment.
It also refused to address whether or not council was concerned about the rising lev- els of violence in Little Malop St. “Due to an ongoing police investigation we won’t be providing further comment at this time,” a council spokesman said.
In September, City Hall chief administrator Kathy Alexander admitted “a lot of wrong decisions” were made regarding the area’s design “a long time ago”.
Mr Watkins will return to court next month.