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The increased police presence in Hargreaves Mall this week has not come soon enough for Jadyn Hoskin.
The 27-year-old has been the target of a sustained campaign of violence and threatening behaviour from groups of youths who spend their days smoking, swearing and intimidating passers-by.
Mr Hoskin’s employment sees him regularly walking through the mall between jobs, and he says he’s been punched, slapped in the face and otherwise physically threatened during the past five months.
“It first started at the end of last year,” he said.
“I was walking past the front of Hudsons, this is my work area, and one of the kids threw a hacky-sack at my head.
“I picked it up, walked up to them and said 'now don’t throw that again' and he said, excuse the French, but 'f*** you ... I'll do whatever the f*** I want'.”
It was at that point Mr Hoskin decided to take the hacky-sack to the police, but when he started to walk away with it, things escalated.
“They all got up to fight me, there was about 10 of them,” he said.
“A woman came out of Hudsons, told me to give the hacky-sack back and told them to back off, so I did as she asked, then went into The Body Shop where the manager there let me sit in the back room while I had a drink of water, calmed down and called the police.”
But that wasn’t the end of the harassment.
“After that incident I was personally targeted, often wearing a high-vis vest I stood out from a lot of people,” Mr Hoskin said.
“There were incidents of pushing, being slapped in the face, I’ve been punched by some kids.”
Recently, the violence and intimidation has gotten so bad Mr Hoskin says he has been forced to take extreme measures to avoid the youths.
“I’ve had to start disguising myself sometimes ... so I can walk home without being followed,” he said.
“At particular points in time it’s gotten so severe that head office has actually had to send someone down from Melbourne, making a two hour trip into Bendigo to walk with me just to do my job.”
It is only since police stepped up patrols in Hargreaves Mall this week that Mr Hoskin again feels safe to do his job.
“I think the local merchants and tradespeople have been quite good in creating a network for themselves, watching out for one another,” he said.
“But I think the best thing to have in Hargreaves Mall is a probably a police presence.”