Samurai sword-wielding man who shut down Ausgrid substation in court
A Bondi businessman who climbed into an Ausgrid substation with a samurai sword before shutting down power and threatening an Ausgrid employee was experiencing a drug-fuelled ‘psychotic episode’.
Wentworth Courier
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A Bondi businessman who climbed into an Ausgrid substation with a samurai sword before shutting down power and threatening an Ausgrid employee was experiencing a drug-fuelled psychotic episode, a court has heard.
Robert Connell, 44, from Bondi, has spent the past three months in custody following the bizarre incident which happened on Wednesday, July 3 at an Ausgrid substation in Bondi.
He appeared at Waverley Local Court via audiovisual link on Wednesday for sentencing.
Magistrate Michael Crompton said, after reading a medical report and hearing the defence’s submissions, that it appeared Mr Connell experienced a drug-induced “psychotic episode”.
Mr Crompton sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of 12 months to be served by way of intensive correction in the community.
Mr Connell’s LinkedIn page says he is the director of a consulting business, C2R Consulting, and has experience working as a quantity surveyor.
It is unclear what drugs he had taken prior to the incident but police found 0.9g of cocaine in his possession.
The agreed facts stated Mr Connell climbed over a fence into the substation on Anglesea St about 4.50pm on July 3.
He then entered the building through a side door, which had not been closed properly, and walked up some stairs to a high-voltage area.
“The accused managed to turn off the internal power to the substation,” the agreed facts read.
“(Later) it required several hours of manual labour to fix the damage caused and to correct all the power outages.”
An Ausgrid employee saw him tampering with the high-voltage circuit breakers and distribution board and yelled “you need to get away from those, you’re going to kill yourself” and warned him he would call the police.
Mr Connell pointed the samurai sword he had with him at the employee, who turned and ran from the area. He also threw a metal object at the employee.
When police arrived, they entered the building and found Mr Connell holding a lighter, plastic and papers trying to light a fire.
The agreed facts said Mr Connell was “clearly in a state of excited delirium” and multiple officers eventually had to restrain and handcuff him.
After being arrested, he started banging his face on the concrete and police had to place a blanket under his head to prevent him causing serious harm.
He was taken to hospital before being admitted to a mental health facility for two days and later was taken into custody.
His defence told the court that Mr Connell had been taking drugs “to relieve the stresses of his personal life”.
He also said that the samurai sword had tape wrapped around it and it could not cause serious harm.
“In my submission this is a set of offences that are out of character and have resulted in Mr Connell spending three months in custody.”
Mr Connell had no criminal history prior to the incident.
IN OTHER NEWS
He pleaded guilty and was convicted for six charges including enter building/land with intent to commit indictable offence, destroy or damage property, common assault, possess a prohibited drug, and resist officer in execution of duty.