DOUSING a man in petrol and threatening to set him alight has led to a 44-year-old man being remanded in custody until mid-September for a mental health assessment.
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Benjamin Porter, 44, of Michelle Court, Warrnambool, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Friday to charges including stalking, persistently breaching intervention orders and assault.
Magistrate Peter Mellas said he was not prepared to finalise the matter until a mental health assessment had been conducted.
He told Porter that process would take between 10 and 12 weeks and adjourned sentencing until September 15.
Porter has been remanded in custody until then.
The magistrate said Porter's offending was escalating and the assessment would help decide the appropriate course of action.
Mr Mellas said it was likely a combination sentence would be imposed involving a jail term and a community corrections order involving treatment and rehabilitation.
He said the time between now and the sentencing date would allow the current situation to settle down.
Defence counsel Michele Downs said Porter and his family had a history of mental health issues, Porter had not engaged with treatment since 2002, and a relationship breakdown had triggered his recent offending.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Nathan Brown said Mr Porter had been in a relationship with a woman for about a dozen years and the woman’s father had taken out an intervention order.
Police said Mr Porter breached that order on Wednesday when he phoned the victim 20 times.
There were also numerous other incidents of breaching orders and harassment involving a number of victims.
On Sunday evening at 6.50pm Mr Porter rang the Warrnambool police station saying that people were breaking into his home.
When officers requested further details, Mr Porter said, "don't worry, I've already poured petrol on him and l'll light him up".
When police arrived they found a man who said he was there to collect property who smelled strongly of petrol.
Senior Constable Brown said Mr Porter's son Cohen had been charged with three lots of trafficking ice in the past couple of weeks and he blamed the man who he had thrown petrol over.
Mr Porter said he had no intention of igniting the petrol even though he had taken a lighter out of his pocket.
