TATT’S IT, YOU’RE GUILTY

A TEENAGER’S distinctive leg tattoo helped Geelong police identify him as one of four thugs who attacked two naval men on a night out earlier this year.

The sailors, both aged in their early 20s, arrived in Geelong aboard the HMAS Toowoomba in February.

Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard they left the St James nightclub about 3.30am to walk to Cunningham Pier, where the Anzac-class frigate was docked.

Kamryn Laity, 18, Joshua Burns and Jake Perry, both 19, and an unknown female co-offender were also at the club, and followed the pair, the court heard.

When the sailors rejected their request for money, they were followed beyond Brougham St and set upon outside the view of Geelong’s CBD security cameras.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Siobhan Daly said the victims took repeated punches to the head and were later taken to hospital, with a cut face and swollen eye among their reported injuries.

Meanwhile, Laity, wearing shorts, and his co-offenders walked back the way they’d come, back into full view of the cameras.

The court heard police had footage of them at the nightclub and on the streets that night, and it clearly showed Laity’s leg tattoo. But the defendant originally denied he was there when interviewed by police.

However, when he appeared in Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Monday, Laity, now 19, pleaded guilty to assault-related charges.

The court heard Perry and Burns had already been sentenced for their roles in the attack. Defence lawyer Bill Sizeland said his client, an apprentice roof tiler had “limited recollection” of what happened that night.

“He was extremely intoxi- cated, and, at that time, was affected by other substances,” Mr Sizeland said.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said the defendant was lucky not to be facing more serious charges.

“It sounds more like an attempted robbery to me, rather than an assault,” Mr Coghlan said. “It’s no excuse to say ‘I don’t remember’ … that’s the greatest cop-out of all time. I’m sure you understood you got involved in something you shouldn’t have.”

With the man’s intoxication that night admitted, Sen-Constable Daly applied to have him banned from licensed venues. But Mr Coghlan decided not to put a conviction on Laity’s record, therefore saving him from the exclusion order.

He fined Laity $750, noting he was a first-time offender, and not the instigator of the assault. The court heard Perry and Burns were in slightly different situations, and previously copped more serious penalties.