A Warrnambool man behaving in a bizarre manner near a primary school has appeared in court after being charged with spitting into the mouth of a police officer.
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Martin Lewellyn, 50, of Morack Avenue, appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Friday where he was granted strict-conditional bail.
The conditions include he report to police two times per week, not consume alcohol or attend licensed premises and he undergo random alcohol testing as required.
He will appear in court again on March 23.
Warrnambool police Senior Constable Dave McPhail said officers were called to Warrnambool's St Joseph's Primary School soon after 3.30pm on Thursday after a report of a man offering children money and strawberries. The man then left the surrounds of the school and went to the New Life Christian Church in Bromfield Street.
Senior Constable McPhail said he and another officer went to the church where they found a man sitting outside.
"We told him there had been complaints about his behaviour and asked him to move on," he said.
"He refused, became belligerent and we told him if he didn't move on he would be moved.
"By this stage he was shouting and screaming. There was a struggle and during that struggle the man resisted four police officers."
Senior Constable McPhail said the offender was then placed in the rear of a divisional van. He said another police officer was talking to the man through a small window, explaining what was happening, when the offender spat through the window into the officer's mouth.
Mr Lewellyn allegedly told police he suffered from Hepatitis C, an infection caused by a virus that attacks the liver. He was also found in possession of two knives.
The man was charged with the serious assault of an emergency worker on duty, resisting the four police members, being drunk and weapons offences.
The charge of seriously assaulting an emergency worker on duty carries a mandatory minimum six-month jail sentence.
The man is known to police after previously being involved in anti-social behaviour, being drunk and weapons offences.
The magistrate said reasons for granting bail included possible delay in the case and a lack of prior offending against the Bail Act.
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