Simon Leigh Ince, 40, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to intentionally causing injury, acting prejudicial to the order of a jail, resisting police and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamines, possessing cannabis and possessing a drug of dependence.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Kim Thomson told the court Ince had gotten into an argument with one of the four people he was drinking with at a Shepparton motel on Christmas Day 2019.
Ince then went and got a baseball bat from his room and hit the person he had been arguing with in the head twice, causing bleeding and swelling, Leading Sen Constable Thomson said.
Police arrested Ince about 1.30 pm and took him back to the police station where, at 5.35 pm, he “spread his own faeces around the cell walls”, Leading Sen Constable Thomson said.
When he was interviewed by police that night Ince told them he “did not remember the incident at all”, Leading Sen Constable Thomson said.
The court heard, in a separate incident, police stopped a car in Lockwood Rd, Shepparton, on October 15, 2019.
Ince, who was a passenger in the car, walked off before throwing “an empty deal bag” at police and then running off, Leading Sen Constable Thomson said.
He then “took up a fighting stance” and police grabbed him and forced him to the ground.
There was a struggle for two minutes after Ince refused to put his hands behind his back and was capsicum sprayed by police, Leading Sen Constable Thomson said.
The court was told an APCO-branded tablet and cannabis was found in his wallet and methamphetamines in his pocket.
Ince’s barrister Karen Chibert told the court her client has spent five days in pre-sentence custody, and since his release no more offences had been committed and he had “turned his life around”.
She said he was homeless at the time of the incidents and had been homeless for seven years.
He now lives in a caravan park in Congupna.
She said Ince was “significantly intoxicated” during the Christmas Day incident.
Ms Chibert said her client had started drinking alcohol as a teenager and had used methamphetamines since the age of 30, however, he had stopped using methamphetamines.
She told the court he had been engaging well in a Court Integrated Services Program (CISP) before COVID-19 hit, attending three out of five appointments.
At sentencing, Magistrate Mary-Anne MacCallum cited Ince's "significant and relevant" criminal history, and said a gap in his offending did not hide his "disposition for violence", with the circumstances of his arrest a further aggravating factor.
“Emergency services are not to be treated that way,” she said.
Ms MacCallum added Ince's Christmas Day offences showed an "extreme and unacceptable" level of violence and caused the victim "significant injury", also stating his behaviour in custody showed "great disrespect to the community".
But Ms MacCallum did take into account Ince's strong compliance with CISP, significant COVID-19 interruptions to his case and that he had been homeless for seven years at the time of offending, saying his life had "significantly turned around" since.
Ince was sentenced to five days imprisonment - time he has already served - and a 20-month corrections order, which will include 180 hours of community work over the period, and will be required to undertake treatment and testing for drug and alcohol abuse and attend an offending behaviour program.
Magistrate MacCallum indicated if not for his guilty plea, Ince would have been sentenced to four months in prison and a 15-month corrections order.
19°C