Jarrad Leslie Bridge sentenced over home invasion sparked by dogfight
An ex-navy clearance diver has been sentenced over a terrifying home invasion where he was the hired muscle. It comes after he was jailed over a plot to smuggle 79kg of ice into Australia.
Central Coast
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Former navy clearance diver Jarrad Leslie Bridge has had another nine months tacked onto his minimum non-parole period after he was sentenced for breaking and entering with intent to cause intimidation and common assault.
The 33-year-old appeared via video link at Gosford District Court on Friday after a jury found him guilty of the break and enter offence following a trial in January.
Judge Tanya Bright said she was satisfied the facts of the matter were the victim, 24, and his pregnant partner, 23, rented a house at Charmhaven next to one of Bridge’s friends.
Judge Bright said the neighbours were on reasonable terms until there was an issue in relation to their dogs.
She said one of Bridge’s friends’ dogs was injured by the victim’s dog and had to be put down.
On December 17, 2018, the victim and his partner were moving out of the premises with the help of the victim’s grandfather.
Judge Bright said Bridge and his friend entered the property where they stated “your (sic) f’n dog killed my dog, I’m going to kill your dog”.
The court heard Bridge’s friend shoved the victim’s grandfather and ran inside past the victim’s screaming girlfriend and pushed the victim into the bathroom where he fell back against the toilet bowl before he stood over him and punched him at least four times in the face.
Judge Bright said the victim suffered bruising to his back and face including a bleeding nose and a split lip.
Her Honour found while there was no physical contact between the victim and Bridge, “he was there and willing to help if called upon” and that it would have been “very distressing for the victim” and the other people present.
The court heard Bridge suffered significant mental and physical conditions as a result of his service as a clearance diver and was medically-discharged before turning to drugs and alcohol.
The court heard these offences predated his involvement in a foiled plot to import 79kg of the drug ice in an industrial mixer.
Judge Bright said some of his sentence for the home invasion would be served concurrently with his sentence for possessing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, so as not to be a “crushing” term of imprisonment.
She convicted him of the break and enter and common assault before sentencing him to three years jail with a non-parole period of 12 months.
He will be first eligible for parole on July 15, 2023, which essentially adds a further nine months to his existing non-parole period for the drug offences.
The court heard Bridge’s friend pleaded guilty and was dealt with in the Local Court where he received a 12-month community corrections order.
It comes after Bridge was sentenced to six years jail with a minimum non-parole period of three years and three months over his role in a plot to import 79kg of the drug ice in an industrial mixer.
Bridge was recruited by a couple of his former navy mates as the “manual labour” to move the drugs from a garage at Sylvania to a Malabar home on July 16, 2019.
He was going to be paid $2000 for his efforts, which he would have used to pay off a drug debt, but police pounced.
He pleaded not guilty but was convicted after a trial.
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