An Australian air-conditioning firm has been fined AU$10,000 (£5,138) after one of its apprentices was hung from a noose and poked with a drill in his groin.

An investigation found the apprentice had been prodded with a drill on several occasions while standing on a ladder at work, as part of a long-running bullying campaign by several co-workers. 

The Ballarat Magistrate’s Court in Victoria heard how the first-year intern at Celsius Ballarat in Bakery Hill endured severe harassment between July 2022 and March 2023.