A PORTLAND man who menaced people with a fishing spear during an altercation over a dog will undertake a community corrections order upon his release from prison.
Williams Janes, 25, of Wellington Road, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court last week to charges of criminal damage, assault with a weapon, driving in a dangerous manner and trespass.
The charges relate to an incident on August 27 this year when Janes drove two of his friends to an Allestree home to “reclaim a dog whose ownership was in dispute”, police prosecutor Sergeant Sandra Skilton said.
The court heard Janes and his co-accused verbally abused the house’s occupants, attempted to kick the door in, and threw a large rock at the house before threatening the occupants with a spear found in the garage.
A car parked outside was also damaged.
Janes then performed a burnout as he and his accomplices drove off, the court was told.
The police prosecutor said Janes was arrested soon after in Portland and during his interview with police he launched into an “uncontrollable rage”, causing the interview to be terminated.
Janes was on bail pending an appeal of sentence at the time of the offending.
He is currently serving a three-month sentence.
Defence counsel Xavier Farrelly said the “uncontrollable rage” was because “the consequences
became apparent” and would result in him going to jail. The court heard Janes suffered from chronic
pain, had attended anger management counselling and had “missed his daughter’s birthday as a result of his incarceration”.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt described the incident as “pretty dumb” and said he hoped Janes’ time in prison had been a wake-up call.
“You will have had three months to think about where this is all leading to, and that’s longer and longer terms of imprisonment,” Mr Klestadt said.
Janes is due for release on November 30, after which he will enter a 12-month community corrections order, involving supervision, treatment, rehabilitation, anger management and a road safety seminar.
He was also ordered to pay $400 compensation for damage to the victim’s car and disqualified from driving for six months.