Penrith Westfield: Michael Dawes sentenced to prison after splitting open a security guard lip

A 28-year-old man who split open a Westfield security guard’s lip spewed a slew of profanity via webcam when he was sentenced by the judge.

A 28-year-old man who split open a Westfield security guard’s lip spewed a slew of profanity via webcam when he was sentenced by the judge.

Michael Dawes, 28, of Whalan, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to assault at Penrith local court on March 15.

Michael Dawes pleaded guilty to common assault at Penrith Local Court on March 15.

He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of shoplifting, two counts of destroying or damaging property, three counts of entering inclosed land, two counts of intimidating a police officer, two counts of assaulting an officer, two counts of having goods in personal custody suspected of being stolen and two counts of contravening an AVO.

Dawes, who has been in custody since January 22, was only officially charged with the offences on Monday, according to his lawyer, who told the court that Dawes “had a mental breakdown”.

“It’s a bit unclear whether these officers were identifiable as security guards and Mr Dawes was experiencing a mental downfall,” she said.

“It is my submission that any sentence should be dated back to when he entered custody.“

Dawes is described in police facts as a “habitual offender” who is “continually being charged for the same offence of trespass, stealing and assaulting police and has amassed some 20 charges in the last month”.

He was also described as having “no regard to his bail conditions”.

On January 3, at 8:30pm, Dawes walked into Penrith Westfield, a property he had been banned from entering, where a security guard noticed him and asked him to leave.

A security guard noticed Michael Dawes enter Penrith Westfield and asked him to leave as he had been banned.

Dawes became agitated and punched the security guard on the right side of the face, “causing the victim‘s lip to split open and bleed”.

He then ran to the train station and security guards quickly lost sight of him.

Magistrate Stephen Corry relayed the bizarre occurrence to the court before delivering his verdict.

“It happened at Westfield where a security guard, doing his job, asked him to leave,” the Magistrate said.

“The defendant assaulted the security guard, punching…causing them to bleed.”

Magistrate Corry said Dawes‘ record worked against him.

“The offender‘s history doesn’t help him, being on conditional liberty at the time this occurred,” he said.

Magistrate Corry sentenced Dawes to seven months imprisonment with a two month non-parole period.

He was also handed a 12 month community correction order expiring March 2023.

On his way back to the cell, Dawes let out a slew of phrases riddled with profanity finishing off with “I have to go to f***ing jail? This is a f***ing mistake“.

Aside from assault, Dawes has also been charged and pleaded guilty to a number of shoplifting charges including items like Black Under Armour Shorts in Cambridge Park, cologne from Chemist Warehouse in Sydney and a white NY 47 baseball cap stolen from St Marys.