By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 33-year-old man has pleaded guilty to exposing himself and unleashing a foul tirade at a female bus driver at Fountain Gate shopping centre.
On 23 October, Trent Armet initially thumped on the bus door, asking if the bus was in service, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.
The driver told him that he’d hit her bus, so he should leave.
An “irate” Armet walked in front of the bus, yelled at the driver and pulled down his pants and underwear.
He then delivered an insulting, expletive-laced rant to her.
Nearby police were hailed down by the driver – who soon drove away given she was running late on her bus run, prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Tim Barnett told the court.
Armet admitted to police he exposed himself for “one or two seconds”, the court heard on 5 February.
His defence lawyer told the court that “it was something stupid”.
Armet also breached a two-year intervention order by attending a protected close relative’s home in Noble Park five days earlier.
Noticeably drunk, Armet requested food at the relative’s back door.
When asked to leave, he became aggressive and punched the garage walls several times.
His elderly relative had fled inside the house, and drove to a police station. She was described by police as “distressed and crying”.
“He had nowhere else to go,” Armet’s lawyer told the court.
At Christmas, Armet was evicted from his Hallam boarding house. He had since been “couch surfing and floating around”, the lawyer said.
The day before the hearing, he was arrested for possessing methamphetamine at Dandenong railway station.
He claimed he had given up an entrenched ice habit for the past two weeks but had been drinking the day before, his lawyer said.
Armet had been diagnosed with a long-term mental health condition but was “lazy” with his current regime of medication, the lawyer said.
Armet told the court he’d felt “tranquilised” on medication. “It doesn’t suit me. I don’t want to be a zombie.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said Armet’s chances of reoffending were high if his homelessness and drug use weren’t addressed.
“What you said to the bus driver was appalling.
“She did not deserve to be spoken to or exposed to as you did.”
Armet was remanded in custody, pending a Forensicare interview.
He was to be sentenced on 6 February.
