By Mandy Oakham
A Corio man caught up in a violent home invasion on Tuesday is recovering from his injuries.
The 36-year-old victim suffered head and facial injuries in the attack and was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he was placed in an induced coma after the assault.
His condition is now described as stable.
Police and paramedics were called to a unit block on Cleveland Court, Corio, about 9.40pm on Tuesday.
Detective Senior Constable Mark Thomas said an unconscious man with severe head injuries was found inside the home.
It’s thought a neighbourhood dispute may be behind the attack with an incident at a nearby flat earlier in the night.
Specialist crime scene investigators spent much of Wednesday morning photographing the inside of the unit, hidden from view by trees, before collecting potential evidence.
Detectives have also been interviewing people at neighbouring properties and are calling for any witnesses to come forward or to call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000
Following the assault, Channel 9 journalist Neary Ty was racially abused at the scene by a man who approached her in an aggressive manner before launching a verbal tirade which was caught on camera.
“What country do you come from?” he’s seen yelling at her, to which she responds: “I was born here.”
The man continues shouting at Ty, asking: “You’re not f***ing Aussie, are ya? If you’ve got such a beautiful country, f*** off back there.”
He follows it up with rude gestures, before spitting in her direction.
Ty exposed the racist rant via Twitter, uploading the video with the caption: “You see and hear a lot on the road while reporting, but I wasn’t expecting this in Geelong today.”
Geelong residents took to Facebook to vent their disgust at the racist abuse.
“How ignorant, and embarrassing for you and your family,” one user said. “I’m sure they are used to your racist tirades but it wouldn’t be fun spread in the media, as it is.”
“I’m really proud to live amongst a majority of good folks who don’t want to tolerate this in our area,” another said.
“There’s no good excuse or reason for his behaviour, no matter what situation the bloke has been in.”
