Ty Aaron Westhorpe pleads guilty to punching teen in CBD

A homeless man with drug and alcohol issues punched a teen while holding a knife, just months after he slashed his landlord in the face.

Ty Aaron Westhorpe.

A homeless man walked up to a random teenager in the Geelong CBD and punched him while holding a knife, just months after he slashed his landlord in the face.

Ty Aaron Westhorpe, 43, pleaded guilty to a variety of assault related charges in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Westhorpe appeared via video link from the Metropolitan Remand Centre where he has served 103 days in custody and remained silent throughout the duration of the hearing.

Westhorpe was roaming the streets of the CBD while he was on six counts of bail when he approached a teenage man and assaulted him.

Police prosecutor Chris Sinfield told the court Westhorpe was walking along Yarra Street on October 26 last year when a group of teens yelled out at the victim.

Westhorpe, who was drunk at the time, believed the group was aggressively yelling at him and decided to take it upon himself to punch a 19-year-old man in the chest while holding a knife.

Constable Sinfield said the victim received a cut to his chest as a result of the altercation and the incident would “stay with him forever”.

The court heard Westhorpe was located by police who found him drinking a bottle of wine.

Westhorpe “acted aggressively” and then threw a bottle of wine on the ground and ran to Westfield, before he was arrested by police.

Six months earlier, Westhorpe was staying at Gate House on Ryrie, located on Yarra St, and was told he would be evicted from the premises because he had kicked a door frame of one of the occupants.

When the owner of the accommodation went into Westhorpe’s room he saw him kneeling and smacking himself on the face.

Westhorpe then picked up a 30cm knife and brought the knife to the victim’s face, causing a one centimetre laceration to his cheek.

The victim then hit Westhorpe, which caused him to drop the knife.

Police arrived 15 minutes later and arrested Westhorpe.

Westhorpe’s lawyer Candice Jackson said her client was from “significant disadvantage” and had suffered periods of “chronic homelessness” throughout his life.

“He has a history of going in and out of custody and attributes it solely to drug addiction,” Ms Jackson said.

Ms Jackson said her client had a tendency to lean on drugs and alcohol in a misguided way to support and self medicate himself and was constantly in and out of jail.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie labelled the offending as “serious and incredibly violent” and remanded him in custody.

Westhorpe will be sentenced on Monday next week.

Originally published as Ty Aaron Westhorpe pleads guilty to punching teen in CBD