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Update, 15 July, 2024: A 37-year-old Warrnambool man facing dozens of sets of police charges will plead guilty on Friday.
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Tyrone Symonds was listed to appear in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on July 15, 2024.
His lawyer Xavier Farrelly asked the court to book the majority of charges in for a consolidated plea hearing in the Koori division on Friday, July 19.
He said there was another police brief involving allegations of shop theft, assault police and resist police.
Mr Farrelly said he needed time to view the police footage in relation to that alleged incident.
Magistrate Franz Holzer adjourned that matter until Thursday and the remaining charges were booked in for a plea hearing the following day.
Mr Holzer told the lawyer to remind his client, who is on bail, to stay away from the Target complex.
Symonds will face court again later this week.
It's understood the man has been assessed for one of Victoria's largest National Disability Insurance Scheme support packages.
On Thursday, July 11: Warrnambool National Disability Insurance Scheme service providers are expected to come under pressure to assist a homeless man facing another 21 police sets of charges.
The brief relates to mostly summary, or less serious offending.
The man is listed to appear in the koori division of the Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Friday, July 12, facing nine sets of charges.
Then there's another 12 police briefs of evidence listed in the Warrnambool court on Monday.
In March this year, a Warrnambool magistrate questioned how NDIS funds were being used to support the 37-year-old man, who at that stage had been suffering homelessness.
It's understood that the man has been assessed for one of the largest NDIS packages in Victoria.
At that time magistrate Gerard Lethbridge questioned what support the man was actually receiving when "all this money seems to be flowing into the NDIS".
"There seems to be funds available through NDIS, through MACNI (Multiple and Complex Needs Initiative), yet here is an individual who is reportedly homeless, suffering severe psychiatric issues and alienated from every organisation that attempts to assist," he said.
Lawyer Xavier Farrelly replied it was a complex situation where an occupational therapy report indicated the man needed 23-hours-a-day support and/or supported accommodation, but funding was yet to be approved.
He said NDIS had been considering that type of funding since October last year and he wasn't sure if there "was a pause for MACNI to fill the void".
The magistrate said the delay was not acceptable.
"It ends up meaning the criminal justice system has to come along and somehow take the role of being social workers, mental health experts and provide housing through imprisonment when these organisations should be doing what they're paid to do," Mr Lethbridge said.
A police prosecutor urged the court to consider a sentence with conditions that directly addressed the man's complex issues.
She said the offending involved innocent victims who were simply going to work, and also tied up important police resources.
In sentencing, the magistrate said it was a "most unusual situation" and that criminal courts should not be responsible for managing complex social and medical issues.
The man told the court he wanted to "stop this lifestyle".
He was placed on a 12-month adjourned undertaking with conditions he not re-offend and attend all NDIS and MACNI appointments.
He remains banned from the central Coles supermarket in Lava Street.
The man was arrested at noon on Wednesday, March 13, by Warrnambool uniform police officers after reports of people causing trouble outside the Coles supermarket in Lava Street.
It was the third time he had been arrested that week after repeatedly breaching his bail conditions, which included he not remain outside 200 metres of the central Warrnambool supermarket.
He pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on March 15 to possessing cannabis, criminal damage, obtaining property by deception, handling stolen goods, resisting police, making threats to kill, unlawful assault, theft and bail offences.
He also pleaded guilty to breaching court orders.
The man had been living in the disused dwelling at the rear of the old Salvation Army church in Lava Street, which has been demolished in recent weeks.
The court heard the offending dated back to October 2023 when the man used a bank card that did not belong to him to buy a mobile phone and cigarettes from a Portland Woolworths.
Other offending involved jumping on parked cars, stole a bike and being caught with cannabis a couple of times - believed to be for personal use.
He also attended the Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative on Kepler Street on February 16 where he stole a laptop belonging to a contractor who was undertaking computer repair work.
Then during March the court heard the man repeatedly attended the Lava Street Coles supermarket despite being banned from the area.
On one occasion on March 10 police were called to reports of the man abusing staff and customers.
The offending breached a therapeutic community corrections order which was put in place in an attempt to support the man in the community.