Peter John Charles-Christian of Young was not convicted but given a 12 month conditional discharge bond for his part in a night of drinking that ended badly.
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The 22-year-old had previously plead guilty to the charges of enter vehicle/boat without consent of owner/occupier and use offensive language in/near public place/school.
The charges were from an incident that occurred when Mr Charles-Christian had been out drinking and ended with him entering a police vehicle and turning the ignition, leading to entering the vehicle in a different manner.
“The police have a duty to perform, they are the persons upon whom we all rely on when we need help,” Magistrate Michael O’Brien said during sentencing. “When they carry out those duties they are entitled to without interference.”
Solicitor Mr Chen represented Mr Charles-Christian and submitted that alcohol was a mitigating factor in his client’s behaviour and that he entered the police car and turned on the engine as a ‘joke’ and the use of offensive language was due to alcohol consumption. They asked a section 10 be considered in the matter.
Prosecution asked that Section 10 (1) b be taken off the table due to the need for the public to know this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated.
Mr Chen argued that a section 10 isn’t lenient, that it is to be taken seriously and that due to Mr Charles-Christian’s background and culture he shouldn’t be punished for this incident.
“He’s fortunate he didn’t commit this incident in the United States or the consequences could’ve been deadly,” Mr O’Brien stated.
Mr Charles-Christian and two others were arrested and charged on June 24, 2014.
According to police facts submitted to the court Mr Charles-Christian and two other males were leaving the pub and began swearing at police who were in the area for a separate matter. Police stopped and spoke to the group.
The group began walking away but continued to yell abuse at police. Police approached and spoke to the group once again when Mr Charles-Christian slapped the side of the police vehicle. An altercation occurred between the two other men and officers it was then that Mr Charles-Christian entered the driver seat of the police vehicle and started the vehicle up. Mr Charles-Christian refused to leave the vehicle resulting in the use of capsicum spray before he exited the vehicle and was placed under arrest.
