Robert Brus found guilty of intimidating, assaulting Sutherland Council parking inspector in Cronulla

A soldier who served in Iraq has been found guilty of an unprovoked tirade of verbal abuse towards a Sutherland Council parking officer where he threatened to kill her, a court has heard.

Robert Nicholas Brus, 47, pleaded not guilty to  intimidation and common assault and defended the allegations at a hearing in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

An Australian soldier who served in Iraq has been found guilty of an unprovoked tirade of verbal abuse towards a council parking officer where he threatened to kill her with a gun, a court has heard.

Robert Nicholas Brus, 47, pleaded not guilty to intimidation and common assault and defended the allegations at a hearing in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.

The court heard a female parking inspector for Sutherland Shire Council was issuing infringement notices to illegally parked cars in Searl Rd in the afternoon of January 28 last year.

The officer told the court she was booking a car, which did not belong to Brus, that was parked over a footpath when he approached her and said, “people like you should be bashed to death,” which she responded with “pardon?”.

The inspector said Brus walked closer to her and said “you ruin people’s lives you old bitch, get out of my street”.

Robert Brus (right) with his lawyer Wayne Pasterfield. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

The officer told the court, Brus swung his arm out, which was holding a shopping bag, and hit her hand which caused her to drop the phone she was using to issue fines.

She said he then told her he would “get a gun” and “kill” her as she finished issuing the fine.

The officer told the court she felt scared and radioed her partner, adding she didn’t say anything further to Brus.

The woman said she took a photo of Brus and he stuck his middle finger up at her.

The inspector told the court she got abused “all the time” and she spoke to her supervisor that afternoon before she reported the incident at Cronulla police station.

In cross examination from defence lawyer Wayne Pasterfield, the inspector conceded she did not call Triple 0 and explained that she was “stressed” when she gave her statement which may be why the quote “you ruin people’s lives you old bitch” was not in there.

The officer denied Brus’ version of events when questioned and said she may have misheard him.

Brus said the evening before the incident, he had seen a man being assaulted by three other men in his street. He said he heard the men discussion “hunting” and heard three types of guns be mentioned.

Brus said when he approached the female parking officer he told her, “I wouldn’t do that if I was you because there are people like you who wouldn’t think twice about kicking the shit out of you”.

He said he did not care about the officer booking the car but rather about her safety.

Brus claimed the officer ignored him and he walked closer towards her as she moved around the car.

He said as he motioned his arm towards the car, he may have hit her hand and caused her to drop her phone but he did not recall or see that.

Brus denied making the threatening comments and rejected that he had any “beef” with parking inspectors.

Brus was convicted and sentenced.

In cross examination, Brus conceded he did not tell police about the men discussing guns because he did not believe police would follow up the report.

He said it was not his intention to hit the officer with his hand or shopping bag.

Magistrate Chris McRobert found when “viewed in isolation each of the versions has a level of credibility”.

He found that the inspector would not have radioed her partner, took a photo of Brus, spoke to her supervisor or made a statement to police if the incident did not occur as she described.

He did not accept that she may have “misinterpreted” what Brus said.

Mr McRobert said Brus’ explanation was “inherently possible” but found the officer did not exaggerate her evidence.

Mr McRobert found the inspector’s evidence convincing before he found each offence proven.

The court heard Brus had no previous conviction, was a person of good character who “served his country” in Iraq and Timor, was married and had not worked for more than 12 months in the IT industry since being charged.

“It is of grave concern you would approach a parking officer and speak to her in an abusive manner,” Mr McRobert said. “There has been no display of remorse.”

Brus was convicted and placed on a 12-month community correction order where he must be of good behaviour.