Halekulani: Blake Maxwell Sanders pleads guilty to wounding a female police officer

A man was heard calling out to neighbours “I need a root” and “let me in”, and seen shadow boxing before wounding a female police officer when she tried to help him, a court has heard.

A man will be sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts each of trespassing and intimidation and the reckless wounding of a female police officer, who was left with a gaping 2.5cm gash to her forehead.

Blake Maxwell Sanders, of Halekulani, appeared via video link at Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where four charges of assaulting an officer, resisting police, intimidating police and wounding an officer causing actual bodily harm were withdrawn and dismissed.

The 30-year-old was refused bail to face Gosford District Court on October 28 to set a date to be sentenced.

Sanders will be sentenced in Gosford District Court. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

An agreed statement of facts states about 3.15am on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, a resident on Walu Ave woke to the sound of a male voice screaming in the street.

“The offender was wearing a grey hoodie and was yelling, screaming and shadow boxing,” the facts state.

Sanders approached the victim who was looking out his window and said “what the f..k are you looking at faggot”.

The man was concerned for his children inside and told Sanders he’d call police, to which Sanders replied “go on, call the police I dare you”.

The next-door neighbours heard the first victim yell at Sanders to “get off my property” before there was a knock at their door.

NSW Police issued a photo of the injured female officer following the incident. Picture: NSW Police

Sanders was outside their house yelling “let me in Kayla, I need money”.

The couple rang police who attended at 4.56am and saw Sanders “dancing and rapping” outside their home.

However the facts state when he saw police Sanders crossed the road and went back inside his own house.

Police knocked on his door but when he didn’t respond they left.

At 5.50am Sanders returned to the couple’s home and began banging on the door yelling “I need a root. Please let me in”.

They called police again and Sanders left briefly before returning with a bag of Weetbix and sat on the front steps, mumbling and continuing to knock every five minutes.

About 7am police arrived and found him at the couple’s property.

He appeared calm but he wouldn’t answer any questions when officers tried to establish his identity.

Eventually he told them his name was Blake and the house belonged to his “misus” named Bonnie.

Sanders returned to his rented house at 18 Walu Ave, Halekulani, when officers arrived the first time. Picture: Google

Officers informed him there was no Bonnie living at the address and he told them “I’m going, youse are f..ked”.

Police told him he was not free to leave and a female officer said “you are at someone’s house and I’m trying to work out how we can help you”.

Sanders put his earphones in and told them he was going to sing a song and turned his back.

They again asked him for his identity and he said “my last name is faggot”.

The facts state he suddenly turned and lunged at the female officer.

“He grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her head down, using his other hand to punch her to the right side of her head,” the facts state.

“The offender immediately followed this punch with a further 3-4 uppercut punched to [the Senior Constable’s] face. The offender was screaming ‘f..king c..t’.”

The 47-year-old Senior Constable suffered bruising, concussion and a nasty gash to her forehead. Picture: NSW Police

The second punch caused a cut to her forehead and she felt blood running down her face.

The female officer deployed capsicum spray as the other male officer tried to pull Sanders off her.

Sanders took hold of her sleeve and pulled her towards him and kneed her to the face and stomach and continued to try and punch her until they managed to wrestle him to the ground and arrest him.

While on the ground Sanders kept being aggressive and told the female officer “I’m going to kill you c..t”.

The female officer was left covered in blood after the incident. Picture: NSW Police

The facts state Sanders was covered in the female officer’s blood and his mobile phone “appeared to have a clump of hair on it”.

The female officer was taken to Wyong Hospital where doctors used skin glue to close a 2.5cm cut to her forehead and treated her for bruising to her cheek and jaw and concussion.

The facts state the officer suffered from severe headaches, vertigo and nausea for four weeks afterwards and developed post traumatic stress syndrome.

The officer also later required plastic surgery for the scar on her forehead, with the surgeon diagnosing permanent nerve damage due to the laceration and scarring.