Geelong Advertiser
Ex-Cat’s cash quandary
When Zach Tuohy retired, he didn’t just say goodbye to the Cattery. He also had to part ways with an all-but-approved refinance just weeks before his builder was due to start renovations. His lender had seen news of his retirement and pulled the...
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‘SHE RAN MY LEG OVER’
A Geelong woman says she was allegedly mowed down by a neighbour while riding her bike in a hit-run that has prompted a police investigation. Deanna Jablan (left), claims a long-running neighbourhood dispute was the catalyst for the alleged incident...
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ACTOR FIGHTS RAPE CHARGE
Geelong actor Craig Gunguta, 30, is fighting allegations he raped a woman at an after-party following a night out at a Chapel St nightclub in Melbourne.
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HORROR CAFE KNIFE ATTACK CLAIM
An elderly man was allegedly struck in the neck multiple times with a butter knife during a terrifying, unprovoked attack at a Geelong cafe, just minutes after his alleged attacker had been released on bail for an unrelated assault. Ayden William...
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DETERMINATION PAYS FOR ANNIE
GEELONG’S VOICE FOR 185 YEARS A popular American barbecue vendor has sensationally exited a central Geelong country-inspired bar less than one month after its opening, citing financial “haemorrhaging” and political differences. Andy Pobjoy launched...
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DEATH DANGLE
A group of teenagers have been filmed sitting on the rooftop edge of Geelong’s tallest building, in what police have described as an “extremely dangerous” stunt. At least three people were spotted on the 21-storey Miramar building’s roof.
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HORSE KILLER HUNT
A childhood pony “best friend” who stood by a Geelong mum for almost 20 years has been shot dead in his paddock, leaving a devastated family in shock and sparking a police investigation.
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MOULD AGE HOME CLAIM
Concerns have been raised about mould and ongoing water damage at a Grovedale aged-care facility, with a person close to the home alleging the problem has been “swept under the rug”. The person, who asked to remain anonymous, said residents and staff...
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GUILTY OF CHUGS’ MURDER
James Farquhar murdered Jayme “Chugs” Sykes. A jury on Wednesday found Farquhar guilty after a 14-day Supreme Court trial in Geelong. Mr Sykes’ family embraced when the unanimous verdict was revealed about 4.30pm.
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Self-defence ‘obvious’
The barrister for a man accused of murder in Geelong’s CBD has urged a jury to find him not guilty, describing the case as an “obvious example” of selfdefence. James Farquhar, 28, has been standing trial, charged with murdering Jayme “Chugs” Sykes by...
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WALL YOU LOOK AT THAT
The historic Harold Freedman mural is once again on public view after the hoarding that covered the artwork for almost two years was removed. The unexpected development comes less than a fortnight after the Liberal Party announced it would remove the...
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Foodies flock to Barwon
Barwon Heads is set for a hospitality shake-up ahead of summer, with two new venues planned for the main street as popular bar Locos closes its doors. The former Locos site on the corner of Hitchcock Ave will become the second home of Anglesea...
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‘Like living in a deathtrap’
Residents of a new $68m social housing complex say they are living in horrific conditions, amid allegations of drug activity, violence and, for one woman, the daily distress of seeing someone connected to her sister’s murderer. The Myers St housing...
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‘HE DID HAVE A KNIFE, I SEEN IT’
An accused murderer has denied he chased and fatally stabbed a man because he was enraged at the alleged victim and wanted to “teach him a lesson for bottling (his) mate”. James Farquhar, 28, is standing trial in the Supreme Court at Geelong, charged...
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EX-TAC BOSS PROBE
Secret surveillance recordings targeting a former TAC chief executive are central to a case against an ex-Geelong deputy mayor accused of breaching a IBAC confidentiality notice, a court has heard. Joe Calafiore was named in a Melbourne Magistrates...
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GIVE US OUR PICS
At least 20 couples have been left anxiously awaiting their wedding photos from a Geelong photographer who went “radio silent,” with one bride saying it took seven months and a lawyer to get her prized photos back. Natasha Van Geest married in April,...
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No sign of Holmes at training TRACK AND FAILED
There are concerns the new $1.5m athletics track surface at John Landy Field may need to be replaced following multiple complaints to Geelong council less than two years after it was installed. The new blue and grey surface was unveiled in December...
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BIG THINGS BREWING IN OUR CITY CENTRE
Geelong’s hospitality scene will soon welcome a major Melbourne player, bringing with it a mechanical bull that’s currently in transit from Texas. Moon Dog has signed a long lease for the former home of Geelong Hotel on Yarra St, with early December...
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Deakin top dog resigns
Deakin University’s Deputy ViceChancellor Academic has resigned after a tumultuous year-and-a-half in the role. Jessica Vanderlelie’s resignation was announced to Deakin staff in an email on Friday. The resignation comes after a rocky tenure in which...
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BEN’S BIG BUCKS FOR BYPASS
Labor has committed $237m to build the first stage of the Bellarine Link, a project that will take heavy vehicles out of central Geelong and reduce travel times for the region’s growing population. Premier Ben Carroll will visit the region on Friday to...
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YOU NEED MORE STAFF
A coroner is calling on Barwon Health to increase staffing in its emergency department after a woman left Geelong hospital untreated after six hours and died an hour later. Susanne Keating died from presumed massive pulmonary embolus – a condition...
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WE WILL UNCOVER MURAL
The public would be able to again view a controversial mural depicting Geelong’s history should the Coalition win the state election, with a senior Liberal claiming the issue was “emblematic of everything we’ve seen from this government”. Liberal...
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FEARS FOR HOME DELIVERIES
Geelong maternity care advocates have slammed the federal government for stripping women of their “human right” to choose how they deliver their children by ending a 16year-old insurance exemption. The professional indemnity insurance (PII) exemption...
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FLAMES GONE BUT PAIN BURNS
No fire alarm sounded as three young women fled their burning Corio rental – the blaze ignited by an arsonist and a pile of dead woman’s possessions their landlord had never cleared. Now, a furious mother wants justice. The women – two sisters and a...
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LEFT IN AGONY
A Torquay man is suing Barwon Health, claiming he was left “totally incapacitated” by nerve damage allegedly caused by a severe haematoma sustained during hip surgery. Kevin Patrick Larkins, 83, received a right total hip replacement at Geelong...
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Chugs stab kill trial under way
The man accused of the stabbing murder of Jayme ‘Chugs’ Sykes in Geelong’s CBD was acting in self defence, his lawyers told the jury on the first day of his murder trial. James Farquhar, 27, is fighting allegations he murdered the 20-year-old during a...
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UP IN SMOKE, AGAIN
Fire has torn through an abandoned house in central Geelong in the fourth blaze at the structure in a month. Smoke billowed across the city centre as emergency services rushed to the scene. The vacant property at the corner of Yarra and Myers streets...
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CLAIM $800K GONE IN A DAY
Geelong Cats sponsor and ex-Crown VIP Sy Giang Nguyen allegedly embezzled more than $800,000 from a Geelong disability charity in a single day, according to new police files. Police allege that Mr Ngyuen defrauded Geelong-based organisation genU of...
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COUNCIL TITLE FIGHT LOOMS
Views are divided on a council plan to prioritise Aboriginal cultural heritage, women and gender-diverse people in the naming of new assets. Geelong councillors will on Tuesday night vote on whether to adopt the city’s inaugural placenaming policy...
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Council sells parkland
Corio parkland deemed unsafe by Geelong council has hit the market with the sale set to boost City Hall coffers by more than $2.3m. The council has moved to offload a 1.28ha parcel of open green space once part of Connections Park East. Fears around...
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‘START BARKING LIKE A DOG’
A local footy legend and father of a current Cats star can be seen barking in a video where he says he owes money to the Hells Angels. In the footage, Matthew Bruhn is told by an unknown man to “start barking like a dog before I put one in you”.
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CLAIMS BRUHN OWES THOUSANDS
A champion local footballer and father of a current Cats star is accused of owing multiple parties large sums of money and failing to appear in court after an order was made to repay one debt. The Addy has spoken to three people who claim Matthew Bruhn...
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HOME CARE SHOCK
Hundreds of vulnerable people, including palliative and dementia patients, have been abandoned overnight after a Geelong-based home care provider collapsed, with its director Bethany Owen (pictured) allegedly ghosting desperate staff and...
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ACCUSED BUS DRIVER IN TEARS
The man accused of driving a school bus that crashed and killed a 12-year-old girl wept as he appeared in court on Tuesday. Alexander Slota, 76, of Hamlyn Heights, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, failure to stop at a stop sign...
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DEATH STALKS BEACHES
Sick and dying birds spotted on the Bellarine Peninsula have raised fears the bird flu may have reached the Geelong region. The discoveries come on the back of distressing new footage of dozens of dying crested terns further down the Victorian coast....
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MORE EYES ON PAKO
The popular Pakington St shopping strip in Geelong West will get a much-needed security boost in the form of a $50,000 CCTV network if the Coalition wins government at the November state election.
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SCHOOL BUS DEATH CHARGES
The man behind the wheel when a school bus crashed in Stonehaven killing a 12-year-old student has been charged, just weeks before the anniversary of the tragedy. Hamlyn Heights man Alexander Slota was arrested and charged on Friday.
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PROBLEM OF SUBSTANCE
Behind the growing public display of disadvantage on Geelong’s streets, hundreds of residents are waiting to access drug treatment. New figures show 438 people were waiting for alcohol and other drug treatment in Geelong on any given day in May, as...
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FIREBUG ON FILM
A bicycle-riding arsonist has set fire to a giant pile of rubbish in a Corio front yard, sparking a blaze that spread to the house and forced three residents to flee. CCTV footage shows a man riding his bike on Sharland Rd at 5.57pm on Tuesday,...
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MAYOR CLEANS UP OUR STREETS
Geelong’s mayor rolled up his sleeves to clean up a mess in Pakington St, after it took council two days to clear syringes, broken glass and a supermarket trolley next to a busy bus stop. A resident who complained about the junk said Mr Kontelj was...
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STAR CATS ON SPEED DIAL
Phone records examined by investigators in a $10m fraud case involving a former Crown VIP and Cats sponsor have laid bare the tight connections Sy Giang Nyugen cultivated with Geelong officials and champion players. Across a four-week period during...
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‘NOT A LOT’ CATS WOULD CHANGE
Geelong will hold an emergency board meeting on Monday to work through the concussion crisis as chief executive Steve Hocking made clear there was “not a lot” the club would do differently if it had its time over. The Cats will reply to the AFL’s...
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PLEASE EXPLAIN
The Geelong Cats have been issued with a “please explain” letter from the AFL as the player at the centre of the club’s secret concussion deal outed himself, saying he’s “healthy, feeling good and focused on playing my role for the team for the...
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Geelong revealed as side behind secret player concussion deal
Geelong can be revealed as the AFL club that struck a secret deal requiring a current player who has suffered multiple concussions to assume all legal responsibility for any further on-field brain trauma. In a bombshell escalation of footy’s...
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TRADERS HUNTING IN PAK
SHOPPING STRIP ‘SO BAD’ Pakington St retailers in Geelong West are banding together to tackle crime plaguing the strip, with one fed-up trader saying it was so common he had given up reporting it to police.
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AFLW SEASON PREVIEW INSIDE
Geelong star Mikayla Bowen has brought magic moves and big goals to Cattery ... and she’s only just getting started P22-23
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CITY’S SHARP DIVIDE
Renewed calls for a medically supervised injecting room have divided the Geelong community, with residents and politicians split over whether the city needs the controversial health service. The Geelong Advertiser spoke with 50 people across the...
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GEELONG INJECTING ROOM PUSH
Geelong is in the grip of a drug crisis after recording its highest number of fatal overdoses on record. The alarming figures have seen local community organisations, harmreduction advocates, academics and the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association...
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COURT F SHAME
Thugs who put a player in hospital after a violent brawl and a player who threw a ball at another’s head are among more than a dozen offenders being publicly named and shamed on big screens at Geelong basketball games.
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CATS GRAB HUGE WIN
Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey takes a screamer at the MCG on Thursday night, where the Cats held off a fighting Collingwood in an intense, high-stakes clash with big ramifications for the ladder as the finals draw nearer.
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MIA’S KILLER COULD BE OUT IN 10
A drug-addled parolee who killed a 12-year-old girl in a highway crash could be out of jail in just 10 years. Mia Rossiter’s family waited until Jordan Kenyon was being escorted out of the courtroom before launching a barrage of expletives at him.
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SCHOOLBOY HIT BY CAR
The family of an eight-year-old boy hit by a car in Armstrong Creek have called for stronger safety measures on busy Warralily Blvd as the child remained in hospital overnight. Young Heath was struck after moving rubbish bins about 8.40am on Tuesday.
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WHEELIE DANGEROUS
More than a month after a young rider was seriously injured at a set of illegal makeshift mountain bike jumps, Geelong council has yet to remove them. Now, friends of the boy have posted a TikTok tutorial showing how to tackle the stunts.
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NO CENTS IN ‘NIMBY’ MINDSET
A key player in Geelong housing projects worth many millions of dollars says his company will not invest in the region again until councillors are stripped of their ability to rule on developments. Tom Roe, a senior executive at Gersh Investment...
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HELP US TAKE IT BACK
City Hall has again run out of patience with the overseas owners of Market Square as it seeks the backing of state MPs for a compulsory acquisition of the beleaguered CBD site. Mayor Stretch Kontelj (pictured) has reached out to both sides of politics...
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Shock death driver video
Shocking footage has been shown of a killer driver’s terrifying recklessness behind the wheel in the weeks leading up to the collision that caused the death of a schoolgirl on the Hamilton Highway. Jordan Blake Kenyon, 31, has pleaded guilty to...
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COVER-UP WILL STAY ’TIL 2027
Hoarding covering a heritagelisted mural in Geelong’s state government offices will remain into 2027, as emails reveal a council committee asked if there were “concerns around the art itself”. Officials say ongoing works are to blame but others claim...
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SPEED THRILLS
If one thing captures attention in global sport it’s when the fastest man or woman in history steps up to perform, and when it comes to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, that alpha dog is Australian swimming sprint king Cameron McEvoy. He is the No.1...
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BEERS TO FLOW IN THE CREEK
Construction of what will be the first pub in Geelong’s fast-growing southern suburbs will begin in the coming months after Australia’s second-biggest operator was given the green light by City Hall. The Armstrong Creek Hotel, located on the corner of...
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EASTERN BEACH TRAGEDY
A man has died after his car slammed into a wall on Geelong’s waterfront early Sunday morning. It’s understood the car hit the wall on Eastern Beach Rd about 6.30am. “The yet-to-be-identified man died at the scene,” a police spokesperson said.
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‘ROLLING SHRINE TO HITLER’
A Jewish woman was left shaken after finding a car plastered with antisemitic stickers and whitesupremacist words in a Geelong shopping centre carpark. The vehicle was spotted at Newcomb Central on Friday morning, prompting a fierce response from the...
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SCREAMS AS SHARK HITS
A female surfer screamed as a shark repeatedly bumped her in Torquay on Thursday while witnesses described the creature toss her board around. The encounter unfolded about 8.30am at Torquay Point, with the victim warning others of a dark shadow...
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CITY SEES RED OVER PURPLE
The fight over a compulsory purple bin for Geelong households is heating up again, with Mayor Stretch Kontelj and frustrated residents united in opposing the state government mandate that City Hall says would cost ratepayers millions.
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TRADERS UNITE IN CARPARK BATTLE
Geelong traders have formed a new retailer group after the council’s removal of free twohour CBD parking sparked community backlash. Artsy Crafty Lounge owner Bec Lamont created the Geelong Retailers Association after an overwhelming response to an...
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FREEWAY ZOOM CALL
Princes Freeway motorists would have their travel time shortened under a Coalition plan to increase the speed limit to 110km/h, bringing it in line with other major Victorian roads. The change from the current 100km/h limit to 110km/h would apply for...
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MUDDY DISGRACE
Geelong’s soccer clubs are cancelling matches en masse and cramming dozens of junior players on to basketball courts as drainage failures plague more than half the region’s pitches. Football Victoria confirmed more than 50 per cent of local pitches in...
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Permanent police push for our CBD
Geelong’s mayor has called on the state government to station police officers in the CBD permanently, citing violence around the troubled Moorabool St bus interchange as a key concern. Stretch Kontelj made the plea for permanent protective service...
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BAKERY BOSS OWES SO MUCH DOUGH
A well-known Geelong businessman has admitted owing about $100,000 in unpaid superannuation to dozens of former employees, conceding he can’t guarantee they will ever receive the money. Bellarine Bakehouse and The Break Artisan Bakery owner Paul Field...
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‘MONUMENTAL STUFF-UP’
The Geelong line was thrown into chaos once again on Wednesday as the nationwide Telstra outage brought all V/Line train services to a halt. Morning commuters in the city were furious and frustrated as their travel plans came undone and they were told...
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CATS ASK FACEBOOK TO STOP THE SLOP
The Cats have asked Facebook to take action against pages that are repeatedly posting false and malicious AI-generated content about the club and its players, including fake deaths, births, crimes, illnesses, trade news and scandals.
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H CREEK
Armstrong Creek residents are taking crime fighting into their own hands, with reports of car bait scenarios and community patrols following breakins in the area despite police assuring offences had dropped.
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Dream hub build begins
Rose de Jong grew up on Wiradjuri country in central-west NSW but it is on Wathaurong country that she is helping turn a decades-long community dream into reality. The 33-year-old moved to Melbourne in 2016, where she held roles with Corrections...
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LET THERE BE LIGHT … SORT OF
The last steps to switch on traffic lights that have sat inactive at a major Geelong intersection for months have finally been green-lit. The hold-up has caused major delays, disruptions, detours and sparked safety concerns among frustrated local...
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SHIRE COPS A SPRAY
A Torquay father is demanding answers after council workers sprayed glyphosate around a playground frequented by toddlers and left no signage to warn barefoot children or their parents. Matthew Hardie said his partner and their two children, aged one...
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STUCK AT LIGHTS
North Geelong residents claim a busy Melbourne Rd intersection has been left without functioning traffic lights for more than a year, creating a dangerous situation for pedestrians and motorists alike. The lights are understood to have been out of...
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