A group allegedly "viciously assaulted" and seriously injured a man with an intellectual disability, a court has heard.
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One of the men allegedly involved in the attack, Jayson Travis Gregory Aldridge, was refused bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old has denied a charge of joint commission assault occasioning actual bodily harm relating to the alleged attack, said to have occurred late one August Friday night last year on a Gungahlin street.
The assault allegedly occurred while Aldridge was on bail for a separate and admitted Civic attack earlier last year, which involved him punching a woman he "catcalled".
The court did not hear about the nature of the man's disability in the alleged August attack, but prosecutor David Swan said it was an important consideration for the granting of Aldridge's bail.
Police documents tendered to the court claim a neighbour "saw the three men bashing [the alleged victim]" in Gungahlin.
That neighbour told police he initially saw Aldridge and the two other men jumping on parked vehicles, with one of them pulling out a sign from the ground and swinging it around.
The neighbour claims one of the accused men tried to throw that sign at a moving car and another told the alleged victim, who was crossing the road, "do you want to get f---ing stabbed or something?"
When the neighbour and his wife reached the alleged victim, they described him as having suffered extensive facial injuries.
Police also saw the man was bleeding, his nose was disjointed and he was in "varied states of consciousness" before he was taken to hospital.
On Tuesday, the court heard the alleged victim's injuries could be worse than first thought and that he may be suffering from partial blindness.
The possibility of Aldridge's assault charge being upgraded as a result means his hearing initially set for Tuesday was postponed until April.
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Aldridge has separately pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault relating to a Civic night out in February of last year.
The unprovoked attack occurred after Aldridge made derogatory comments to two women and a man about 1.30am, calling them "sluts" and "whores".
When one of the women told Aldridge to stop and "shut up", he responded: "I won't bash you but I'll bash your guy mate."
Aldridge swung a punch at the male friend, who was trying to convince the group to leave, but missed.
The wayward punch instead connected with the woman who had remonstrated with Aldridge, knocking her to the ground.
Aldridge then attacked the male friend, punching him in the face multiple times.
Legal Aid Lawyer Edward Chen successfully argued the delay in Aldridge's case was a special or exceptional circumstance that allowed the man's bail application to be heard.
Mr Chen also said his client had never been behind bars before the almost six months he has already spent in custody for his latest alleged crime.
"We don't want to risk institutionalising this young, 23-year-old Ngunnawal man," the lawyer said.
However, Mr Cook ultimately denied the bid for freedom despite proposed bail conditions that "would amount to home detention".
The magistrate cited Aldridge's "frequency of offending" and how community-based sentences for multiple previous assaults had not deterred him from committing more.
Aldridge is set to face court again later this month.
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts. He came to the nation's capital via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. Contact: tim.piccione@canberratimes.com.au.
