Dale Pygram went on boozy benders leading to crime spree

A Bowral tradie had a couple of boozy benders that saw him graffiti a store, wrestle with police and stare down a car before he spent the night in police lockup.

A Bowral tradie had a couple of boozy benders that saw him graffiti a store, wrestle with police and face down a car before police put him behind bars.

Dale Pygram, 30, appeared via video link in Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to intentionally marking premises without consent, resisting a police officer in the execution of their duty, intimidation, and possessing illegal drugs.

The Bowral resident was spotted graffitiing the window of a Moss Vale store at 8.30pm on March 27, according to court documents. The court heard Pygram was drunk at the time and had “no real recollection of doing the graffiti”.

The documents show police also saw Pygram throw a can at a passing car, which they asked him to pick up. He refused.

“I’ll pick it up when I f***ing want to,” he told police.

“Without a f***ing badge on your chest, you’re f***ing nothing.”

Dale Pygram appeared in Moss Vale court on charges of graffiti, intimidation, resisting arrest, and drug possession. Picture: Facebook

Pygram then pushed the police officer’s chest and tried to pull away from the attempted arrest, court documents show. Police say he and the police officer wrestled until reinforcements came and he was subdued.

According to police facts, Pygram was well affected by liquor and drugs, and in possession of a paint marker used to graffiti a store window.

The court heard Pygram, who is a gardener, was on bail for those offences on July 2 when he approached a group of young men in Burradoo.

According to agreed facts, Pygram stood in the middle of Burradoo Road and started yelling, so the men came to ask him what was wrong. When they approached, facts show Pygram asked them if they wanted to buy any cannabis from him, becoming enraged and threatening when they refused.

“I’ll stab all four of youse, youse may be rich but I’ll take ya,” he told them according to police facts.

Dale Pygram appeared in his prison greens in Moss Vale Local Court.

The facts show one of the men was picked up by his older brother and, as they drove up the road, Pygram stood in front of the car and made them stop. Pygram started suddenly running towards the vehicle and yelling at them to “get the f*** out of the car”, court documents state.

Documents show the driver reversed quickly as his brother recorded the intimidation on his phone. When police arrived, they stopped him in the middle of the road and searched him, finding 5.8 grams of cannabis which the agreed facts show he admitted to owning.

Police facts said he was “evidently intoxicated by liquor” and was “argumentative and resistant” before he was put in the caged truck.

Pygram’s lawyer told the court her client had been on “a path of self-destruction” since the death of his child and the disintegration of his relationship.

“All these offences occurred when he was under the influence of alcohol,” she told the court.

The court heard Pygram suffers from schizophrenia and had taken himself off his medication when he thought he was feeling better.

Magistrate Susan McGowan noted Pygram’s references were positive.

“When he’s not drinking or taking illegal substances, he conducts himself as we all hope we will,” she said.

However she said people were fed up with alcohol-related offences.

“The community is getting sick of it. They’ve been sick of it for a long time,” she said.

Magistrate McGowan sentenced Pygram to two community corrections orders for 18 months and fined him $500. She also ordered him to attend drug and alcohol counselling, anger management courses and comply with a mental health program.