Police basher who injured officer's finger in violent attack blames media article for drunken relapse
An alcoholic knocked back a ‘goon bag’ outside a Pakenham house he shouldn’t have been anywhere near. He attacked police officers when they arrested him, and now he is attacking the media.
South East
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An angry alcoholic with a penchant for punching police has blamed the media for his latest booze-fuelled law-breaking.
Gavin Connelly was heavily intoxicated after knocking back a “goon bag”, hitting and kicking officers and dislocating a finger of one female member in a violent attack in Pakenham in March this year.
And then in July he went on another drunken rampage, this time smashing up a Narre Warren South house.
A court heard it wasn’t his lack of self-control which was the problem, it was the adverse publicity from media reporting of the first incident that caused him to fall off the wagon.
Connelly, 48, pleaded guilty to assault police, drunk, criminal damage, bail and court order breach charges at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court heard on March 11 police were called to a Pakenham address after reports Connelly was seen sitting on a nature strip in an extremely drunken state.
He wasn’t meant to be near the property after being banned earlier that day, and he wasn’t meant to be drinking alcohol.
When officers arrived Connelly was highly agitated and he lashed out when they tried to arrest him.
When he was finally subdued he admitted “taking a goon bag” and drinking it, saying he had reacted aggressively towards police because he “was wound up”.
Then on July 13 he was drunk again, throwing items around, tipping over a table and smashing a jewellery box at a Narre Warren South house.
His defence lawyer said the second offence happened because an article in the news about the police assaults had caused “public attention he wasn’t expecting”.
He said although Connelly had been addicted to alcohol since he was 16 he had been sober recently but “went back to his old vice” when the story was published.
He said his client, who had open heart surgery recently, had had “a wake-up call” from spending around two months in custody and he should be released on time served.
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell said Connelly was clearly an alcoholic who needed help, but the amount of time he had spent on remand was not enough punishment for attacking police officers.
“He has a history before the court, it is littered on some level with alcohol-related offending,” Ms O’Donnell said.
“He does not seem to acknowledge he has such a strong issue with alcohol.
“He behaved appallingly that day.”
Connelly was jailed for six months minus 64 days he has already served, and must do a 12-month community corrections order with alcohol treatment conditions upon release.
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