A Warrnambool man who assaulted police while in custody has been jailed for six months.
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Joshua Stennett, 27, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday to charges, including assaulting police during an interview in December 2022 and deception-related offences.
He was jailed for six months with 35 days already served in custody on remand.
The court heard Stennett was aggressive during a police interview and became involved in a violent struggle with two officers.
The man also admitted to scamming a buyer on Facebook Marketplace with the fake sale of a Playstation 5 in May 2021.
Stennett had posted as a seller under an alias, swindling $400 from a prospective buyer before deleting his account.
Then in August 2022, Stennett stole petrol from a service station in Geelong in a car found to have stolen number plates.
In the same month, Stennett was intercepted in Warrnambool in another car with stolen number plates and found in possession of a quantity of methamphetamine.
On Monday Stennett also pleaded guilty to breaches of multiple court orders.
In sentencing, magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said he took into account the man's guilty plea, as well as the contents of a psychological report.
But Mr Lethbridge said the number of jail sentences Stennett had served at the age of 27 was troubling.
"You'd be starting to wonder whether you want to end up just being an institutionalised individual who can't survive out in the community," he said.
"That just seems to be an extraordinary waste of a life.
"If you keep challenging the court's authority by breaching court orders, you'll simply spend longer and longer and longer terms in custody."
Stennett's lawyer Ian Pugh said his client was remorseful for his actions but required mental health and drug treatment which he had been booked to receive in prison.
"He's down to do some treatment in prison for ice," he said.
"He regrets his behaviour with the police.
"He's in a place now where he can work towards rehabilitation."
Mr Pugh said his client's assistance with other prisoner's rehabilitation was evidence of Stennett's improvement.
"What is encouraging is that ... of his own volition he instructs me he's become a peer listener," he said.
"For new people who've come into the jail, he's been helping them with various issues."
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