The Victorian government is standing by its sentencing laws after criticism from the police union over the punishment handed to a repeat cop-basher.
Shaun Mowbray, 37, was sentenced to just five months behind bars this week for attacking officers who tried to arrest him in October.
He didn’t receive the six month mandatory minimum because he pleaded guilty to a lesser offence.
‘This person pled guilty to a lesser charge and that guilty charge was accepted by the prosecuting authorities in that case,’ Attorney-General Martin Pakula said on Friday.
Shaun Mowbray (pictured), 37, will likely be back walking the streets before one of the female officers he assaulted due to ‘soft’ sentencing handed to cop bashers
One of the female Craigieburn police officers shows an injury inflicted by Mowbray
The 37-year-old, who has a long history of assaulting police, will likely be back walking the streets before one of the female officers he assaulted.
He had assaulted police eight times before punching a male officer several times and badly injuring a female senior constable’s hand – forcing her out of work for months, Herald Sun reports.
The sentence follows state Government promises to crack down on people who treat Victoria’s emergency workers like ‘punching bags’.
Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court heard Mowbray injured the male and female as they tried to arrest him for threatening to burn down his mother’s house on October 25.
On jailing him, magistrate Martin Grinberg said he had to be mindful of Mowbray being a low-functioning adult who had experienced developmental delays, possibly from teen drug use.
The Police Association has since slammed the sentence, calling the five month jail term too weak of a sentence to serve as an adequate example for other criminals.
A Craigieburn police officer sustained serious bruising to his eye in one of Mowbray’s attacks
Mowbray punched a male officer several times and badly injured a female senior constable’s hand (pictured) – forcing her out of work for months
Association secretary Wayne Gatt said offenders would ‘run roughshod’ over officers if courts didn’t do something to stop them.
‘The community has lost the service of a police officer for at least two months. The man who caused that to happen will probably be back walking the streets before that officer returns to duty. There’s a massive inequity in that,’ Mr Gatt said.
The separate charge of assaulting a police officer does not carry the same six-month minimum penalty as the mandatory prison term for the offence of assaulting an emergency worker.
Magistrate Martin Grinberg said he had to be mindful of Mowbray being a low-functioning adult who had experienced developmental delays, possibly from teen drug use