A man who smashed a laptop after threatening to kill a person facilitating an online behaviour change program has been jailed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Craig Thomas Ah See lashed out after he became offended while completing the domestic and family violence course as part of supervision at Wagga's Department of Community Corrections office earlier this year.
Ah See, from Orange, faced Wagga Local Court this week charged with two counts of intentionally or recklessly destroying property and a single charge of common assault, which related to the March 4 incident. He pleaded guilty to the offences.
According to court documents, the 48-year-old was using a laptop in an interview room when two community corrections staff heard him yelling and swearing. The staff then saw him pacing around and punching a desk the laptop was on.
IN OTHER NEWS
One of the staff entered the room and asked Ah See what was upsetting him. He pointed to a document on the table that said "Indigenous women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised due to violence".
Ah See then yelled "it f---ing happens to white women too! This is bullshit, I'm really f---ing angry". He continued to yell at the program facilitator on the laptop screen, telling them "you've really f---ing offended me" and then saying "I wanna f---ing fight you, I wanna kill you".
He also took aim at one of the staff who tried to calm him down, directing more obscenities at them and threatening to start a fight.
Ah See later punched the laptop with a closed fist, causing the screen to shatter and its plastic trim to break. He also picked up his backpack and swung it around, causing a large hole in the wall of the interview room.
Ah See was asked to leave and as he walked past one of the staff he turned and stared towards them and said "I just wanna fight someone, I'm so angry, I might just punch you in the mouth. You f---ing smile at me again and I'm gonna f---ing hit you."
Thinking they would be assaulted, the staff member grabbed a nearby chair and placed it between themselves and Ah See to create a barrier. Another employee then told him to leave, which he eventually did. The incident lasted about four minutes.
In court, Magistrate Christopher Halburd said Ah See's legal team submitted the offending was in the mid-range of objective seriousness and that he had trouble managing his anger on the day.
Magistrate Halburd said while it was clear that's what happened, the anger management issue was an explanation for the offending but not an excuse. He said supervision programs were in place to assist the offenders and such behaviour undermined the service provided by community corrections.
Ah See was also charged with common assault and contravening an apprehended violence order in relation to a separate incident at a Wagga home on March 7.
During that incident, Ah See woke the victim and demanded a set of car keys. The victim then used a tent pole to smash the driver's side brake light in an attempt to stop Ah See, who didn't have a licence, from taking the car.
When she told him what she had done, Ah See grabbed the left side of her face and pushed her into a brick supporting post. He drove off and the victim went inside suffering an extreme amount of pain, with the court told she became disoriented and saw black dots.
She later spoke to police and was still in pain. An ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital.
Magistrate Halburd said assaults in breach of an AVO were "treated very seriously". Ah See was sentenced to a total of nine months' jail with no non-parole period, meaning Ah See will have to serve his entire jail sentence.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters