City bash victim ignored by Victoria police

A helpless man who was king-hit and bashed by a group of thugs in a sickening city attack said police refused his desperate pleas for help because they had "better things to do".

The man - who asked to be known only as John - said he was set upon by the three youths while he was on the way home from a Christmas party about 11.45pm on Saturday. He said he was king-hit after approaching the youths who he saw urinating in the entrance to a block of apartments on Little Bourke St. The attack has sparked renewed calls for a zero-tolerance crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

More than 200 people were arrested in Victoria over the weekend as part of a campaign against drunken violence.

John said he approached the men, believed to be teens, to ask them if they would urinate in the entrance to their own homes. "While I was talking to one of them the other two came at me ... I got a punch in the back of the head, one on the side of the head and then another one in the face," he said.

John, who suffered swelling to the head and neck, and a cut lip, said police arrived at after the youths had fled. "They said it was normal for these kinds of things to happen (and) said I was lucky that I wasn't knifed, and that I only walked away with a minor injury."

After being sent away John returned to the police after he again spotted the youths. "I told them they were just a block away ... but they really could not be bothered," he said. "A senior constable told me: 'p--s off, we have better things to do'."

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Peter Ryan said yesterday the minister would seek an explanation from police about the matter. Earlier in the day Mr Ryan told the media he wanted a zero tolerance approach to be applied to hoons and thugs.

Victoria Police would not comment yesterday, but said 243 people were arrested in Victoria in a special weekend operation. In Melbourne 108 people were arrested for drunkenness, 14 for assault and eight for drink-driving.

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