Dean Robert Anderson, 46, watched porn, touched himself in Corio Village Shopping Centre

A man exposed his penis in a popular shopping centre in Geelong while watching porn on his mobile phone.

Corio Village Shopping Centre.

A man who exposed his penis in a popular Geelong shopping centre while watching porn has since lost all feeling below his chest as a result of a fishing accident, a court has heard.

Swan Hill’s Dean Robert Anderson, 46, pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning sexual exposure.

Anderson, a former mechanic now working in retail, was supported by his mother who sat outside the court.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Kylie Jane said Anderson was at the Corio Village Shopping Centre on October 22 last year, just after 11am.

Shortly before entering the shopping centre, footage showed Anderson fiddling with his pants and deliberately taking his penis out from his zipper.

Constable Jane said Anderson went down an escalator and had strategically placed his T-shirt over the top of his pants, hiding his genitalia.

“As he walked past the Cotton On store, an unknown female was walking north towards him. CCTV shows the accused touch his penis,” she said.

The court heard the female did not acknowledge or respond to Anderson, however, he continued to walk around the shopping centre.

About seven minutes later, Anderson is then sighted on CCTV standing beside a vending machine on level one watching porn on his phone.

The court heard Anderson was looking around “waiting for another opportunity” to walk past the woman.

Anderson then sighted the victim again and walked past her with his penis exposed again.

The victim managed to obtain Anderson’s registration number and reported him to police.

Anderson’s lawyer said his client was involved in a fishing accident after Easter this year and had lost the majority of his feelings from the chest down.

The court heard the offending had caused Anderson a “significant amount of shame” and had been “having nightmares” about going to court.

Magistrate Franz Holzer adjourned sentencing for six months to allow for a psychological report to be prepared.

“What you do in the privacy of your own home, I don’t really care about, but when it spills out into a public place that is obviously where there are, quite rightly, concerns,” Mr Holzer said.

Originally published as Dean Robert Anderson, 46, watched porn, touched himself in Corio Village Shopping Centre