County Court to hear charges

A CORIO man with a history of violent offending faces a lengthy stint in jail over a shocking knife attack outside a CBD nightclub that left two men with “high-end injuries”.

Ricky Rose-Mooring, 25, will plead guilty in the County Court to charges arising from the March 12 attack outside St James Bar.

The accused man wanted to have his charges dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court, where he this week entered guilty pleas to two counts of intentionally causing injury and counts of assault, affray and possessing a weapon.

But prosecutor Kim Swadesir argued it was serious enough to go to the higher jurisdiction, where longer prison terms can be imposed.

The court heard RoseMooring went to the nightclub carrying the knife before his night out escalated into violence in the club’s doorway as bouncers kicked him out for causing trouble inside the venue.

An accused co-offender, allegedly involved in a fracas inside the club will face the Magistrates’ Court next month. It is understood he plans to fight the charges.

Ms Swadesir said RoseMooring’s victims suffered “high-end injuries, just falling short of serious injuries”.

Two years is the longest sentence a magistrate can impose for any single charge.

But Ms Swadesir said RoseMooring’s crime was a serious example of intentionally causing injury and should be heard in the County Court, where he faces a potential jail term of up to 10 years on each of those two charges.

Rose-Mooring was charged with intentionally causing serious injury and affray in 2011, and was last year convicted on a count of recklessly causing injury at the Lara Sports Club.

Both incidents involved weapons, the court heard.

Ms Swadesir said the man’s violent history should count against him in sentencing.

“Street violence and violence within licensed venues are becoming a pattern for Mr Rose-Mooring,” the prosecutor said.

The defendant’s lawyer said his offences were neither organised nor sophisticated, arguing the sentences in the Magistrates’ Court were “sufficient”.

“In my submission the offending is really inexplicable,” she said.

Magistrate John Lesser read a summary of Rose-Mooring’s offending, but did not release that summary to the Geelong Advertiser. The summary will be read at the County Court plea hearing, along with three victim impact statements.