A Wagga man has been jailed after he admitted to phoning police with a hoax bomb threat when a local business refused to cash his cheque.
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Peter Charles Anton, of Ashmont, pleaded guilty to five charges, including using a carriage service to make a hoax threat.
Other charges included using a Telstra payphone to menace/harass, resisting an officer in execution of duty and two counts of assaulting an officer.
According to documents tendered to the court, the 50-year-old man visited Forest Hill Medical Centre on January 1 and asked to cash a cheque.
When staff informed Anton they were unable to cash cheques he became loud and abusive.
Anton went down the street to use a payphone at a nearby caravan park to call police to the medical centre.
“There is going to be a bomb there – they’re going to get blown up, if you want to take 10 to 15 minutes that’s fine,” Anton told police.
The abuse continued as he contacted the Wagga branch of the NSW Trustee and Guardian, who control his funds, to access money.
A staff member refused to transfer Anton the funds, telling him it was not affordable.
“I will personally come into the office and break everything if $1700 isn’t in my account at midday,” the facts state Anton said.
When police arrived at the scene, they spotted Anton in a nearby car park.
He denied knowing anything about the threat before attempting to strike an officer and informing them he wished there was a bomb that could blow them up.
He continued to attempt to kick police as he was handcuffed.
CCTV from a nearby business revealed Anton entering the payphone at the time of the call.
Solicitor David Barron asked Magistrate Michael Crompton to consider a finding of special circumstances as his client had been diagnosed with several disorders.
Mr Barron referred to a pre-sentence report, which stated Anton suffered from poor impulse control, with quick changing moods.
Mr Barron told the court his client had been assaulted and frequently moved between facilities throughout his time in custody.
Anton was sentenced to two years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 months. He was also placed on three concurrent 12-month good behaviour bonds. He is eligible for release on December 2, having already served the majority of his sentence.