A WARRNAMBOOL ice trafficker undergoing a psychiatric assessment before being sentenced has been arrested for obstructing police.
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Jason Cooper, 25, now of North Road, Mortlake, successfully applied for bail in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court yesterday. He will reappear in court on October 9.
Detective Senior Constable Jason Bourke, of the Warrnambool police crime investigation unit, told the court that Cooper’s sister was involved in a domestic dispute last Tuesday when she was alleged to have stabbed her partner.
He said police went to a Crawley Street home on Tuesday night to arrest the woman on a charge of intentional causing injury.
When police entered the home they noticed Cooper, his sister and their mother were there.
When the sister was arrested, Detective Senior Constable Bourke requested the woman remove a red T-shirt which appeared to be blood-stained.
The police officer said he went to a police vehicle to get an evidence bag and the woman removed her top, which was seen on the couch beside Cooper.
Detective Senior Constable Bourke said Cooper then confronted him, put the red T-shirt down his pants and said he was “going to piss on it”.
He said Cooper became extremely aggressive and confrontational and police officers decided to leave with Cooper’s sister.
Police returned to the Crawley Street address on Thursday with a search warrant, arrested Cooper for obstructing police and found the red T-shirt in the rear yard.
Detective Senior Constable Bourke said the evidentiary value of the T-shirt could now be reduced, having been handled.
Last month Cooper pleaded guilty in court to a number of charges, including trafficking ice and cannabis.
A magistrate decided to adjourn sentencing until October 9 and ordered a mental health assessment after solicitor Matt Senia raised issues in a plea hearing.
Police alleged then that in early October last year Cooper started trafficking cannabis. He had then started selling ice during mid-January.
Police executed a search warrant at Cooper’s Crawley Street home on May 15.
They found cannabis, two mobile phones, three sets of scales, ammunition, laser sights, prescription medication, a glass smoking pipe, a crossbow and $800 in cash.
