A Tasmanian man who assaulted three police officers with a lawnmower, pitchfork and knife while having a “particularly bad day” has been sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The 53-year-old was arrested in January following the incident in which one of the officers “feared she was going to die”.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Alan Blow said the man was living with his mother and was “particularly depressed” on the day police were called to the Latrobe property.
In his passing comments, Justice Blow said officers found the man in a garden shed in the backyard, swearing, refusing to come out and telling them he did not want medical assistance.
When officers approached the man, he emerged from the shed with a large knife and pitchfork, which he brandished at the group.
He threw the pitchfork at two officers, urging them to shoot him and hurled a lawnmower at them after being unsuccessfully pepper-sprayed.
The confrontation escalated when the man lunged at a female officer with the knife, slashing her vest and making stabbing motions towards her face and neck, the court heard.
“She moved backwards, fell onto her back and was trapped between the shed and the fence, unable to get away … She kicked out at him as he tried to stab her, three times,” Justice Blow said.
“The first female officer drew her firearm and yelled at [the man] to get down. The male officer approached him, using the lawnmower as a shield.”
The man was eventually subdued with pepper spray and taken into custody after resisting attempts to be handcuffed.
He was treated at North-West Regional Hospital and arrested again the following day.
Justice Blow noted that the man had prior convictions, including a suspended sentence of three months for wounding in 1990 and a wholly suspended sentence of two months for drug and driving offences in February 2023.
The court also heard that the man suffers from schizophrenia and had received appropriate psychiatric treatment and medication while in custody.
The man expressed remorse, telling police he “could see how” the female officer thought that he was going to kill her, that he was “so sorry for the lady” and “thoroughly disgusted” by his actions.
He believed the attending officers deserved commendations for not shooting him.
The man was sentenced to 12 months in prison, backdated to 31 January. He will not be eligible for parole until he has served six months of the sentence.
His $5 pitchfork, $40 lawnmower and smoking device were forfeited to the state.
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