Drunken Navy officer Shaun Timothy Smith jailed for assaulting police officers at Roxby Downs Tavern

A former Navy officer attacked two police officers in a drunken rage — putting one in a headlock until he lost conscious — has been jailed.

A former navy officer who put a policeman in a headlock until he lost consciousness has been jailed.

Shaun Timothy Smith, 31, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2½ years imprisonment for assaulting two officers during a drunken melee at Roxby Downs Tavern in April.

Pub staff repeatedly told Smith to leave after he became “grossly intoxicated” and harassed customers, including grabbing a woman’s buttocks, the Port Augusta District Court heard.

When the officers arrived and tried to physically escort Smith out of the bar, he began twisting his arms and upper body, hitting the female officer in the process.

Smith then put the male officer in a headlock and pushed him to the ground. The policeman hit his head on an airconditioning unit as he fell.

The male officer, who told the court he thought he was going to die, was kept in a headlock until unconscious and taken to hospital with brain damage.

The female officer and a pub patron tried punching Smith to get him to release his grip before using pepper spray.

Eventually, he was subdued after four members of the public intervened.

Judge Gordon Barrett found the violent attack was fuelled by alcohol after Smith became a heavy drinker during his five-year stint in the Australian Navy defusing sea mines in Papua New Guinea.

Judge Barrett accepted Smith drank to cope with mental health issues, but said it did not excuse the “extremely serious” offending.

Smith, who wrote an apology letter to both officers, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and causing harm with intent.

He will not be eligible for parole until July.