Michael Cutts jailed for biting a police officer

A Tweed Heads man who struck police and spat on them after he was discovered staggering in the river, has found out his fate in court.

An unemployed Tweed Heads man has been jailed after biting a police officer who was attempting to help him.

Michael Cutts, 33, was sentenced in Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday after pleading guilty to assaulting police in execution of duty causing actual bodily harm, assaulting a police officer in execution of duty and resisting or hindering police.

According to court documents police received a number of triple-0 calls for Cutts who was wading in the Tweed River on Jacaranda Avenue, Tweed Heads West holding a bottle of vodka on October 23 about 12.45pm.

One triple-0 caller said he was yelling obscenities and waving his bottle around, another said he may be screaming for help and unable to move from the swamp.

Police arrived at 1.05pm and could hear Cutts yelling from the mangroves where they approached him concerned for his welfare.

Cutts replied: “F**k you c**t, you dogs, you just wanna take me to jail I’ve got mental health.”

Several times he lost his footing, fell in the water and took drinks from the vodka bottle while police tried to reason with him.

Cutts went through private property before he was arrested trying to leave the front gate of a Riviera St home, soaking wet.

Due to his intoxication he was cuffed to the cage of the police vehicle which he flung open a number of times before striking two officers.

At the police station officers used capsicum spray which had little to no effect.

As they tried to take him to the charge room Cutts spat on an officer and struck him on the head before biting an officer’s finger with “extreme force.”

A number of other officers were required to release the finger which resulted in bleeding cuts and crush marks and later needed a tetanus shot.

In court defence lawyer Riley Owen said on the day of the offence his client had turned to alcohol after finding out one of his close friends was terminally ill.

He said Cutts was remorseful for his actions and said the police officer didn’t deserve to be bitten.

Mr Owen said his client had paranoid schizophrenia which lowered his moral culpability.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Martin said Cutts had a long history of violence and previous intensive correction orders had failed to curb his behaviour.

Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy told Cutts he needed to stop this type of offending behaviour.

He noted Cutts had special circumstances as he was at risk of homelessness if he were to spend too long in prison and had mental health concerns.

He sentenced Cutts to a 15-months imprisonment with three months non-parole, backdated to October 23.

Cutts will be eligible for release on January 22, 2022.