Coward bashed Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre guard in brawl
Thug’s Facebook “can’t catch me, bruz” boast failed badly after cops nabbed him for his part in a wild Cranbourne Park brawl.
South East
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A teen thug who joined in the bashing of a shopping centre security guard in a six-on-one fight has avoided jail.
Cooper Paulic punched and kicked the guard at the Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre in June 2019 after a group of his mates had attacked the worker.
Paulic proudly boasts on his Facebook page that they “can’t catch me, bruz”, but cops did just that and he ended up in court.
The Cranbourne 19-year-old, who was 18 at the time of the brawl, pleaded guilty to assault charges at the online Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The apprentice bricklayer also admitted doing a runner from a taxi in February last year after robbing the driver of $58, and being a passenger in a stolen car that had been chased by the police air wing in March.
The court heard at 4pm on June 5, 2019 Paulic and some mates were at the Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre when they had an altercation with another bunch of males.
Fights between the teenagers that had started inside the shopping complex then spilled out onto the plaza.
Two security guards came and tried to break up the free-for-all fracas, but were set upon by six young men.
One of them was Paulic, who punched one guard to the head several times.
He then stood back for a moment before rushing back in and launching a few kicks at the hapless guard, who suffered bruising and soreness to his face and arms in the vicious assault.
Paulic and his mates then ran off, but he was caught by police nearby and arrested.
He told officers he “didn’t touch the security guard at all”, but CCTV proved otherwise.
His defence lawyer said this was the first time in court for Paulic, who was just 18 at the time of the fight, and he was remorseful for his actions.
She said he planned to move to Ballarat to be with his family and away from negative peer pressure.
Magistrate Costas Kilias said he needed to promise to stay out of trouble.
“Good luck in Ballarat; take this opportunity to make a new start in your life,” Mr Kilias said.
Paulic was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and ordered to pay $500 to the court fund.
No conviction was recorded.
