A NEIGHBOUR of a Warrnambool man who suffered serious facial injuries on Saturday night was yesterday remanded in custody until July 12 charged with assault.
Mark Andrew Douglas, 44, of Bates Road, appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court where he did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.
He has been charged with recklessly causing serious injury and a range of assault-related offences.
Mr Douglas was arrested late Sunday afternoon by Warrnambool police. He appeared before a bail justice and was remanded in custody overnight before going to court yesterday.
A Warrnambool man, 45, suffered life-threatening head injuries with most of the bones in his face shattered on Saturday night.
Detective Senior Constable Richard Hughes, of the Warrnambool police crime investigation unit, said Mr Douglas was a neighbour of the man who suffered the injuries.
He said surgeons yesterday assessed the injured man and it was expected he would have to undergo surgery due to the fractured bones in his face.
An ambulance was called to east Warrnambool on Saturday night after a resident noticed a man lying unconscious on the road near the intersection of Bates Road and Verdon Street about 9.30pm.
Detective Senior Constable Hughes said it was clear the man was seriously injured. He was taken by ambulance to the Warrnambool Base Hospital before being flown by air ambulance to The Alfred where he was yesterday listed as being in a serious but stable condition.
Fears over the man’s life prompted Warrnambool police to close Verdon Street overnight Saturday.
Water was diverted from the road around where the man was found and a tent erected to preserve any crime scene evidence.
Verdon Street was reopened about noon on Sunday when the man’s condition improved from critical to serious.