Guy McCluskey pleads guilty to unlawful assault, criminal damage

A man damaged cars, smashed a library window, spat on a woman and set fire to a shirt on display in a shop in a frightening spree on Pakington St.

Guy McCluskey appeared in Geelong Magistrates Court over 15 charges, most of which were property-damage related offences.

A man who damaged cars, kicked in a library window, spat on a woman and set fire to a shirt on display in a menswear store was unmedicated, a court has heard.

Guy McCluskey, 34, fronted the Geelong Magistrates Court via videolink from Ravenhall prison and pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including unlawful assault, drug possession and 11 property-damage related offences, including criminal damage by fire.

The offending took place between September 30 and December 12 last year, the court heard, and largely included damage such as scratching and ripping windscreen wipers from cars.

McCluskey also kicked in a window at the Geelong West library, tore a letterbox from the ground, damaged an elevator button and on December 6 he set fire to a display shirt in Gazman.

The next day, he was arrested after multiple triple-0 calls about McCluskey walking along “yelling abuse” and damaging cars.

In December, one worker at Geoffreys Kitchen & Gifts on Pakington St was spat on by McCluskey.

She was already wary of the 34-year-old, as he was regularly in and around Pakington St “causing trouble”, and had gone outside to prevent McCluskey spitting on tables.

Instead, he spat on her as he walked past, leaving the victim feeling angry, “gross” and like she needed a shower, the court heard.

McCluskey was arrested on several occasions and was once found with a small ziplock bag of ice in a mint container.

McCluskey’s lawyer, Louis Robertson, told the court McCluskey had a deprived background and diagnoses of epilepsy and schizophrenia and unstable housing for over a decade.

McCluskey had also struggled with abusing illicit drugs, including ice and there was “significant difficulties in entangling (drugs and his mental health)” in finding the root cause of his offending, Mr Robertson said.

The most recent spree happened at a time when McCluskey was untreated, the court heard, however he was now medicated and receiving treatment in custody.

Mr Robertson asked for a sentence of 64 days, or time served.

Police prosecutor senior constable Alex Turner submitted that was not enough.

“The court must take into account this is recidivist offending for an individual who has a proven history of not engaging with treatment,” he said.

Magistrate Kimberley Swadesir told McCluskey most of the damage may seem minor, but to ordinary people with no exposure to crime, such acts can “shake them to their core”.

“Every damage that you cause, has created somebody who could now refer to themselves as a victim,” Ms Swadesir said.

She echoed the prosecution in describing the spitting incident as “horrendous” and said: “it’s something toddlers do before they can speak, because they can’t express themselves”.

However, Ms Swadesir was sympathetic to some of the struggles McCluskey had faced.

“You’ve had a childhood that you didn’t deserve, you’ve suffered loss, you’ve had serious, challenging issues within your family, you suffer from a serious medical condition (and) an extremely serious mental health condition,” she said.

McCluskey will be assessed for a community corrections order (CCO) before his next court appearance.

Originally published as Guy McCluskey pleads guilty to unlawful assault, criminal damage