Bunrith Chea: Sister-bashing brother chooses jail over CCO
A bad brother who said he didn’t want a community corrections order and would rather do prison time has been granted his wish.
South East
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A sibling who threw a metal fan at his sleeping sister and punched her in the face because he wasn’t happy with a lack of family support for his drug issues has refused to do a CCO.
Instead Bunrith Chea will have to do hard time and miss out on support and treatment for his substance abuse.
The unemployed and homeless 25-year-old thug pleaded guilty to unlawful assault and court order breach charges at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The court heard on February 5 this year Chea went to the woman’s Narre Warren home, even though he was banned from being there due to previous angry encounters.
He barged into her room and while she was asleep he threw a metal fan at her face.
When she got up to confront him about the attack he launched a verbal tirade about her lack of support for his drug issues.
He then punched her in her face before running away.
When he was later arrested he admitted assaulting his sister, saying he was angry because she wasn’t helping him.
His defence lawyer said her client had become isolated from his family because of his previous drug lifestyle and “they didn’t want anything to do with him”.
She said he was hoping his sister would give him support to help him overcome his addictions but knows he “went about it the wrong way”.
She said he didn’t want to do a community corrections order and his “preference” was for a straight period of imprisonment.
Magistrate Suzette Dootjes sent him for a CCO assessment anyway.
“He would need to be motivated to engage (with corrections),” Ms Dootjes said.
“But if that is not the case, I can’t force that.”
When it unsurprisingly came back with him being classed as “unsuitable”, she said she then had to jail him.
“He himself indicated that (he wanted to go to jail),” she said.
“This kind of behaviour is treated very seriously by the courts.”
Chea was jailed for five months, minus 101 days he had already served.
