STATE OF TASMANIA v SHANE ANDREW FAZACKERLEY 21 OCTOBER 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Shane Fazackerley, you plead guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer. I also agreed to deal with your plea of guilty to the summary charges of resisting police and failing to take reasonable precautions in respect to a syringe. At about 6.00 pm on 20 September 2018 you boarded a Metro bus at the Glenorchy bus mall. It was quickly obvious to the driver and other passengers that you were heavily affected by alcohol or drugs or both. You were agitated and behaving in an erratic and alarming way. You were asked to leave the bus but when you did not do so the police were called. A few minutes later two female officers arrived. They eventually persuaded you to get off the bus but when one of them asked you whether you had any drugs in your possession you smashed your phone on the ground and a small snap lock bag fell onto the ground. When the female officer took your arm as you reached for your pocket you lunged at her, wrapped your arm around her throat and neck, restricting her ability to breath and move. You used your other arm to punch her upper body, striking her left arm and chest. The other officer intervened and attempted to free her colleague, whereupon you produced an uncapped syringe from your pocket. You are not to be sentenced for threatening anyone with the syringe, but it was uncapped and by producing it while the struggle was going on you clearly failed to take reasonable care with it The two officers managed to restrain you, but only after you resisted the other officer by swinging your arms aggressively and locking your arms behind your back to avoid being handcuffed.
As a result of the assault and the resist both officers sustained minor grazes and bruises. I have not been informed of any greater impact, but assaults of this nature can be extremely frightening and traumatic even for police officers.
You are aged 40. You held responsible employment until about six years ago when you lost your job, your relationship broke down and you descended into abuse of alcohol and drugs. You do not have a record for serious violence, but you do have relevant prior convictions. I will refer to only the more recent ones, which seem to roughly coincide with the deterioration of your personal circumstances. In 2013 you went to prison for dishonesty. You have two prior convictions for alcohol or drug related driving offences, in 2012 and 2015 respectively. In 2017 you were fined for failing to comply with a direction of a police officer and resisting police. In May 2018 you were imprisoned for 12 weeks for offences including two counts of disorderly conduct, 11 counts of breaching bail, possessing cannabis, and motor vehicle stealing. You were also fined for possessing a dangerous article. These offences must have been committed not all that long after your release. On 27 September 2018 you were sentenced to another month in prison for stealing and burglary, so you must have been on bail for those offences when you committed these offences a week earlier.
When you committed these offences you were heavily affected by methylamphetamine. Your drug use had worsened following the death of your father. That is not mitigating, although it may partly explain why you acted as you did when you do not have a bad record for violence. You say that you have abstained from drugs while in custody and want to rehabilitate yourself. It is in your favour that you have pleaded guilty and your sentence will be reduced as a result. It is not a particularly early plea. The charges against you were due to be tried shortly but when the State agreed to not proceed with the allegations of criminal use of the syringe, you quickly pleaded guilty. By changing your plea you have facilitated justice, and the police officers do not have to give evidence. Police are experienced at giving evidence, but it can be traumatic nevertheless when that police officer has to recall and describe an assault perpetrated against him or her. I do not see however that you have given up much chance of acquittal. You were remanded in custody on 20 September 2018 until you were released on bail on 29 January 2019. That is 132 days in custody, which must be taken into account except for one month which is attributed to another sentence. You have been in custody since you were arrested on 25 July 2019 for failing to appear in May. I will order that your sentence be expressed to commence on 15 April 2019. The charge under the Public Health Act concerning the syringe is punishable only by fine.
The factors in your favour must be balanced, however, with the need for a sentence which adequately reflects the seriousness of what you did. Violent assaults of police fuelled by drugs is conduct which must be condemned and punished. You inflicted serious violence on one of the officers. Choking is a particularly frightening form of attack. It is fortunate that greater harm was not caused. The community depends heavily on the police force for its safety and security. Police officers are entitled to the protection of the law. They should be able to go about the performance of their duty without being subject to violent assault. Sentences should protect the community by upholding the authority of the police and deterring others from acting towards the police as you did.
Shane Fazackerley, you are convicted on each count. On the charge of failing to take reasonable precautions with the syringe, in light of the sentence I am about to impose, I make no other order. On the remaining two counts I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months from 15 April 2019. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served eight months of that sentence.