Pie, punch-throwing Tootgarook beanie meanie faces court
A Tootgarook thug who hit a jogger because he wanted her beanie also threw pies, eggs and punches at a Rye supermarket worker.
South East
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A bizarre thug who struck a stranger to the back of her head because he wanted to “knock off her beanie” has been sentenced to 13 days in jail.
Jason Dean Riches threw food and punches at a supermarket worker because he was angry.
The Tootgarook man is now a free man after serving less than two weeks in custody — 10 days of that in a psychiatric hospital.
Riches was sentenced at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday after pleading guilty to unlawful assault and bail breach charges in August.
At that hearing his sentence was deferred and he was bailed to a hospital as an involuntary patient for treatment for mental health issues.
The court heard a woman was jogging along Point Nepean Rd in Rye at around 8.45am on March 4 last year.
When she came to the Hunt Ave intersection Riches ran up to her and hit her from behind, knocking her woollen hat to the ground.
Riches was soon nabbed by police but denied the assault, saying he only “tried to flick her beanie off”.
That was his second fit rage to land him before the courts.
On August 19 this year at 11am Riches went into Woolworths in Rye for some shopping.
He became aggressive and argued with a customer before a staff member came to diffuse the situation.
The worker asked him to leave but he threw a box of eggs, a pack of pies and some matches at him.
The assistant followed Riches outside before he turned around and punched the man’s ear.
Police attended and had to use capsicum spray to subdue the aggressive assaulter.
He was on bail at the time for the jogger attack and remanded in custody.
In court his defence lawyer said Riches had serious mental health issues and an acquired brain injury from a motorbike accident.
She said he was now being closely monitored by health professionals and was compliant with his medication, which was not the case at the time of the offending.
Magistrate Vicky Prapas said since he was released Riches seemed to be a different man.
“The offences were committed in the context of a real decline in your mental health,” Ms Prapas said.
“Now you have people to help you, people to help you stay out of trouble.”
Riches was sentenced to time-served and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond with the condition he continues his mental health treatment.
