WAGGA LOCAL COURT
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A MAN found guilty of a cowardly and premeditated attack on a taxi rank security guard has been jailed for a minimum 18 months.
Daniel Clifford Richards was sentenced in Wagga Local Court on Monday after being found guilty of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Richards smashed a house brick into the back of security guard Michael Finn's head about 1am on May 4 last year.
The blow caused a 10cm wound that bled so much it turned the colour of Mr Finn's fluoro work jacket from yellow to red.
Some 12 stitches were needed to close the wound.
Richards pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming he could not remember anything of the incident because he was so intoxicated.
But he was found guilty by magistrate Megan Greenwood in September after a hearing in June.
Outlining her finding of facts during sentencing, Ms Greenwood said Richards was involved in a scuffle with Mr Finn and another security guard at the Station Place taxi rank, Jessie Robinson, in the evening after the Wagga Gold Cup.
The melee was the result of Richards being unhappy with having to wait for a taxi in a long queue.
He threw a kebab at Mr Robinson, which hit him in the back, and the pair struggled before Mr Finn went to the aid of his workmate.
She said Richards left the area after the scuffle broke up but returned 90 minutes later and lay in wait until Mr Finn walked down a lane to go to the toilet.
As Mr Finn faced a wall, he was hit from behind with the brick.
The men then exchanged blows briefly before the attacker fled.
Mr Finn told the court during the hearing he saw Richards's face and recognised it from the earlier incident.
Richards's cap and his partner's mobile telephone were later found at the scene.
"The level of premeditation makes it worse, the level of violence makes it worse, the cowardly way it was done makes it worse and the nature of the injury makes it worse," Ms Greenwood said in her sentencing remarks.
Richards's solicitor Morgan Jones put to the court references tendered by his client indicated he was substantially a person of good character.
"But his actions on the night were out of character in a very serious way," Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones asked for a suspended sentence for Richards, saying it was a very severe form of punishment.
He said Richards had started a cleaning business, had a nine-month-old daughter and was a carer for his mother.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Priscilla Jones said the attack was towards the upper end of seriousness for that type of offence.
Richards was given an aggregate sentence of 24 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and being armed with intent.
He will have to serve a minimum 18 months before being eligible for parole.
Richards was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond for assaulting Mr Robinson with the kebab.
He pleaded guilty to that offence.