Clinton Wayne Raggatt sentenced for intimidating former co-workers

A northern NSW man who got sloshed after being sacked has been sentenced for yelling threats at his former co-workers from their backyard while they slept.

A North Coast man who got drunk after being laid off and proceeded to violently threaten his former colleagues and housemates had two nights in custody on remand to ponder his choices.

Clinton Wayne Raggatt, 48, pleaded guilty at Ballina Local Court on Thursday (September 8) to two counts of intimidation against his co-workers.

Court documents reveal Hamilton South man got drunk at the Lennox Head Hotel on May 14 on “an undisclosed amount of alcohol” after being sacked from his job, for which he recently relocated from Newcastle.

He returned to the Lennox Head house he had been living in with two male colleagues at 11.30pm, went into the backyard and started yelling outside the windows of where they were sleeping.

Raggatt yelled: “You little punk, you’re going to need a new pair of braces, people should be knocking you out when karma catches up with you,” and “lock and load on you, you need your neck snapped”.

Clinton Wayne Raggatt, 48, outside Ballina Local Court.

“The actions and threats which the accused made both victims fear that the accused would carry out the threats and physically hurt them,” police said of the incident.

Raggatt told police he was giving the victims a “lecture”, but denied making any threats.

He was arrested and taken to Ballina Police station, where he was kept in custody on remand for two nights.

In court, Raggatt’s lawyer said he had felt betrayed because they kept their jobs and he didn’t.

The defence acknowledged it wasn’t okay for Raggatt to “tell them off” in relation to what happened and said Raggatt had accepted responsibility and shown remorse.

Magistrate Karen Stafford accepted that it was understandable for Raggatt to be angry, but said there were threats of violence and overall the victims were fearful he would carry out the effects, the court heard.

“I accept you were intoxicated, but being drunk doesn’t mean that you’re not responsible for your actions and it doesn’t reduce the seriousness of your offending,” she said.

“I do take into account your abuse of the alcohol started when you found out that you were laid off, particularly in circumstances where you had relocated (to work).

“It explains why you were so angry and drinking so much.”

Raggatt pleaded guilty, with Ms Stafford saying his record was of “concern”.

Court documents confirm Raggatt has a history of violent offences including assaulting a police officer, robbery with actual violence – for which he served jail time – intimidation, destruction of property, contravening domestic violence orders and drink driving.

But Ms Stafford accepted that Raggatt had taken steps to change his ways.

“You have taken the opportunity to show you are sorry, but also address the factors that make you act like this when you are drunk,” she said.

He was convicted and sentenced to a community correction order for two years and to perform 100 hours of community service.

“It’s time for you to put something back into the community by way of community service work,” Ms Stafford said.

He will be supervised by Newcastle Community Corrections and if he breaches his community correction order he will be back before the court.

Raggatt was apprehended on May 15 and spent two nights in remand after being refused bail by police because he had just finished a 16-month intensive corrections order, bail documents revealed.

However, Raggatt was later granted bail by a Byron Bay magistrate on May 16 ahead of his sentence.