A confrontation over a disabled toilet at Wangaratta's Apex Park led to a Wangaratta man unlawfully assaulting a wheelchair-bound victim, a court has heard. The 56-year-old appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Monday to plead guilty to unlawful assault. The court heard on 25 March this year the accused was using the disabled toilet at Apex Park in Wangaratta when the wheelchair-bound victim was knocking on the door. The pair exchanged words with the accused abusing the victim and talking about his wheelchair. The victim was on the phone to police when he was approached by the accused, who gave him an open-faced slap to the side of the head. “I don’t care if you call the police,” he yelled. Officers arrived to find the men sitting on separate parkside benches as paramedics attended to the victim. In court the accused said the two used to be friends, but no longer get along. “He was dead set against me,” he said. The accused didn’t think he had anger issues and getting angry was “part and parcel” of who he was. He said he once tried to manage his anger by sitting at home chain smoking for two hours, waiting for the anger to pass by him. The defendant said he was homeless at the time and had found accommodation during the year, but is again without a home living in the Wangaratta area. Magistrate Megan Casey placed the 56-year-old on a good behaviour bond with conviction. “If you see him keep your lips sealed and give him a wide berth,” she said.
