John Wayne Payne laughed, smiled and waved at his girlfriend in the public gallery of Albury Local Court this week as he tried to secure bail.

The application ultimately was unsuccessful so Payne, who will fight the allegations, will remain in Junee jail awaiting the setting of a hearing date.

The 23-year-old has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated robbery with wounding and grievous bodily harm and cause grievous actual bodily harm.

“So he’s alleged to have pushed someone into the path of an oncoming vehicle?” magistrate Rodney Brender asked Payne’s solicitor.

His lawyer argued, in applying for bail, that Payne was “still a young man” at 23 and had not faced any serious charges since a suspended jail term was imposed on in 2015.

He had not breached that suspended sentence either, though it was conceded that the latest charges were “certainly serious offences”.

It was also argued that there was nothing in the police outline of the case that suggested anyone had identified Payne as the person who committed the robbery – taking a wallet and mobile phone – or pushed the person, nor that it was backed by forensic evidence.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Coombs opposed bail because of the seriousness of the offences, the likelihood based on previous occasions that Payne would fail to appear in court and because of his “substantial record”.

Sergeant Coombs said the matters were before the court as a result of a warrant issued to arrest Payne, which added further weight to concerns about the likelihood the accused would fail to turn up to court.

Mr Brender dismissed the defence’s suggestion that a lack of independent identification or forensic evidence outlined in the police facts meant he should in any way not give due credit to the veracity of what the prosecution said actually took place.

“It says he was seen to grab him and push him in the face of an oncoming vehicle,” he said.

“They’re charges carrying multiple years in jail. I must refuse bail.”