Corey O’Brien: Drunken man sentenced for tirade towards police on Australia Day

The now-father urinated, defecated and smeared faeces in two police cells after he was arrested for verbally abusing officers. He told police to leave him alone because his father was a solicitor who would “have their jobs”.

A Cronulla man defecated and urinated in two police cells after he verbally abused officers during a drunken-fuelled Australia Day tirade, a court has heard.

Corey O’Brien, 37, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Monday where he was sentenced for four charges.

Agreed facts tendered to court said Sutherland uniformed police were doing high-visibility patrols around Cronulla beach foreshore on bicycles in the afternoon.

Families, children, older people and other members of the public were using the walkway enjoying the public holiday.

The officers went towards Oak Park when they saw O’Brien walking and carrying two skateboards.

Corey O’Brien left Sutherland Local Court after he was sentenced for four charges. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

According to the documents, police observed him to be unsteady on his feet and as they slowed he said “you f------ dog c----”.

The officers immediately stopped and requested him to move to the side of the path. They noticed he was well-affected by alcohol because he was unsteady, slurring his words and smelt of liquor.

They tried to calm him down but he continued to swear, telling them, “I’m a local. I live 500 metres away, just let me go,” the documents said.

O’Brien continued to swear while he was placed under arrest. He became physically aggressive swinging his head around and attempting to antagonise police saying, “go on assault me”.

“You don’t know who I know, my dad is a solicitor and he is going to have your job” before calling a female officer a “f------ sl-t” before making other derogatory remarks.

A woman walked past and was so disgusted she turned around and told O’Brien to respect the police, the documents said.

O’Brien then pushed back and swung his head towards an officer, attempting to headbutt him.

The officers forced him to the ground while O’Brien continued his tirade of verbal abuse and was put into a caged vehicle.

While at the station, he threatened to kick officers in the face when they opened the car.

While O’Brien was in the charge room he urinated, leaving it unusable.

He was then moved into another cell where he defecated before he smeared his faeces on the walls.

The rooms were not able to be forensically cleaned until the next day.

O’Brien was placed in a clean cell where he continued to be physically and verbally aggressive towards police.

He was later charged with resisting officers, using offensive language in a public place, intimidating police officers and damaging property.

In court on Monday, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson said O’Brien had a long criminal record consistent with alcohol addiction.

“The facts don’t make for good reading,” she said.

“On Australia Day police are out on the beat in hot temperatures where a lot of alcohol is consumed.

“What you did was pretty disgusting … I hope you think about these facts when you are tempted to drink too much.

“Alcohol and anti-social behaviour has governed your life back to 2003.

“Police day after day deal with people and you might just think they are just words but they have a cumulative effect. No one wants to listen and observe what happened that day.

“Now you have a child I’m sure you don’t want it to see this behaviour.”

O’Brien was convicted and sentenced to a community correction order of 18 months and fined $250. He must be abstinent from drugs and alcohol.