A DRUNKEN parolee who smashed a stranger in the face with a beer bottle during a random and unprovoked Boxing Day attack has been refused bail in Newcastle Bail Court.
The alleged victim and his wife were forced to take refuge in their car at Waratah Village Shopping Centre as an incoherent and unpredictable Raymond Douglas Sullivan, 38, suddenly attacked them on Thursday night. And after only moments earlier being suddenly struck in the face with a beer bottle, the alleged victim's quick thinking - to take a photograph of his attacker as he began kicking the passenger door of their car - led directly to his arrest.
Mr Sullivan, of Hamilton South, appeared in Newcastle Bail Court on Friday charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, damaging property and behaving in an offensive manner in a public place.
He did not enter any pleas, but applied for bail, despite currently being on parole until January 10, 2020.
Mr Sullivan had recently become homeless and was supposed to be returning to his hometown of Walgett by bus on Friday, the court heard. Instead, he got drunk and found himself at Waratah about 6.50pm on Boxing Day when a man and his wife pulled up in their car to get some dinner.
The alleged victim told police he got out of the car and instantly noticed Mr Sullivan, mumbling incoherently and holding a beer bottle, walking towards him.
Mr Sullivan allegedly blocked the man's path and then, without any warning or provocation, struck him in the face with the beer bottle, causing the bottle to smash.
Mr Sullivan was arrested urinating on the footpath of the shopping centre a short time later and was wearing the same clothes as the man in the photograph on the victim's phone.
