MALL STAB VICTIM ALMOST DIED, COURT TOLD:

Court told teen slashed man’s femoral artery

A MAN stabbed in daylight outside Market Square shopping centre earlier this year came perilously close to dying, a court has heard.

Shocking new details about the January 25 incident emerged in a children’s court hearing yesterday as a 17-yearold boy confessed to the unprovoked stabbing.

The teenager — who cannot be named for legal reasons — was on parole when he plunged a knife into the victim’s groin and chest next to the shopping centre’s Moorabool St entrance about 2.40pm.

The victim, aged in his 20s, left a trail of blood as he staggered inside the centre before collapsing at the Degani café.

While the attacker fled on foot towards Geelong railway station, paramedics raced to the scene where they found the victim suffering major blood loss.

The court heard the man was rushed to Geelong hospital’s emergency department while in “complete” cardiac arrest after his femoral artery was severed during the attack.

A doctor’s medical report that was read in court revealed the short distance between Market Square and Geelong hospital may have saved the victim’s life.

“The patient would most certainly have died if the injury had occurred any further from the hospital,” the doctor said.

The court was told the victim spent three months receiving rehabilitation and had been left with a hypoxic brain injury, which was likely to affect his ability to again attain meaningful work.

His attacker was arrested one day after the stabbing and has since been in custody.

The boy pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of intentionally causing serious injury and breaching parole.

The court heard the teenager and the victim were known to each other and that there had been tension stemming from the attacker’s belief that the man had assisted police with an unrelated matter.

Through his lawyer, the boy applied to have his case dealt with in the Children’s Court, where the maximum penalty he could face was three years in jail.

But a magistrate refused the application and transferred the case to the County Court, where he said the boy could receive a harsher sentence.

The magistrate said the incident was particularly serious given it occurred in broad daylight in an area that was usually accessed by large numbers of the general public.

“I have sat in this jurisdiction for over 16 years, however this is the first occurrence where I would say these are charges not suitable to be dealt with in the Children’s Court,” the magistrate said.

The boy was remanded in custody and will face the County Court on a later date.