A WARRNAMBOOL man who breached a suspended sentence by giving a false name to police and refusing a breath test did so in a moment of “spontaneous stupidity,” a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Drew Barry Jackson, 30, of Churchill Street, had a six-month suspended jail term reinstated when he pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court this week.
Jackson refused a breath test and gave a false name to police when he was intercepted in Warrnambool in September. The offending breached a six-month jail sentence which had been suspended for two years.
In February, Jackson pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court to intentionally causing injury, unlawful assault, making a threat to kill and using a telecommunications device to harass.
The charges related to an incident in which Jackson rushed at his then former partner and punched her to the head and face about 10 times. He then kneed her to the head and told her she was going to die as she fell to the ground.
Jackson later told police in an interview he had “lost it” and “laid into” the woman.
In court this week, defence counsel Pat McComish said Jackson came to court under no illusions and had told him there was no other explanation for his actions but spontaneous stupidity.
He said Jackson had been imprisoned twice previously.
Mr McComish said there were exceptional circumstances why Jackson should not be jailed, including his compliance with a community corrections order, steady employment, re-engaging in alcohol counselling and that he was due to be a father for a third time.
But magistrate Peter Mellas said that did not qualify as exceptional circumstances and the suspended sentence was reinstated. Jackson has appealed the penalty.