MONDAY, 1.30PM:
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THE Orange teenager allegedly punched in the head in a shopping centre in Orange on Saturday is now in a stable condition.
The 16-year-old is recovering in the high dependency unit at Orange Hospital according to a Western Local Health District spokesperson.
The teenager sustained a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and a broken tooth after police allege Joshua Staines punched him to the right side of the head with a closed fist.
MONDAY, 12PM:
APPRENTICE butcher Joshua Staines, 20, was refused bail in Orange Local Court on Monday morning after allegedly attacking a teenager outside an Orange shopping centre on Saturday.
Police claim the 20-year-old apprentice butcher carried out a cowardly and callous attack on a 16-year-old with spina bifida outside a shop in Orange Central shopping centre.
Staines' partner, being comforted by her mother, sobbed loudly as bail was refused, while the accused's mother, who wrote a letter to the court asking for her son to be released, was also in court to support her son.
Staines' solicitor Philip Boncardo told the court his client had a harrowing experience in custody for the previous two nights and he could comply with a curfew and conditions to stay out of the central business district.
But magistrate Terry Lucas denied the bail application.
"It is one of the strongest prosecution cases I have seen in my career, there are witnesses and there is CCTV footage," said Mr Lucas.
"There is an extremely good chance of a custodial sentence if the Director of Public Prosecutions takes this case on," Mr Lucas said.
The victim sustained a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and a broken tooth in the alleged attack, and is being treated for his serious injuries in Orange Hospital.