Convicted murderer Jonathon Sporton assaulted two Barwon guards in less than a fortnight

A convicted murderer assaulted two prison guards in the space of a fortnight at Victoria’s most notorious jail, this time spitting on a prison guard trying to help him back to his cell.

Convicted killer Jonathon Sporton assaulted another prison officer, this time spitting on him as he tried to help the criminal back to his cell. Picture: Hamish Blair

A thug doing a 17-year jail term for murdering a good Samaritan assaulted a second prison officer less than a fortnight after he savagely beat a guard while being armed with a ‘rock in his dacks’, a court has heard.

Jonathon Sporton, 30, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday to a three month jail term after pleading guilty to one count of assaulting an emergency worker on duty.

Sporton, who is housed at the state’s notorious Barwon Prison, appeared via video link from the Melbourne Remand Centre.

On January 30, 2023, Sporton was being held in the Acacia High Security Unit, a high security management unit that is used to accommodate high risk prisoners.

At 11.10am, a number of prison guards went to return Sporton to his cell after having a shower.

Sporton, who is required to be handcuffed wherever he is taken by guards, spat at a prison officer, before being escorted back to his cell.

Sporton spat on a prison guard trying to help him back to his cell. Picture: Hamish Blair

The court heard Sporton was sentenced by Judge Peter Rozen to 20 months’ jail on July 26 in the County Court after pleading guilty to intentionally causing injury during an attack on January 18, 2023.

The court heard Sporton suffers from severe mental illness, and was admitted into Thomas Embling Hospital on March 8, 2023, and again on August 11, 2023, before being discharged on September 6 after his condition had stabilised.

Sporton was jailed for a minimum of 17 years after he murdered Roger Bertocci in Altona North in December 2014.

Mr Bertocci, a good Samaritan, intervened while Sporton was assaulting his pregnant girlfriend in public.

The three-month term is to be served concurrently alongside his existing sentence.

Sporton’s earliest possible release date remains May 1, 2032.

The entirety of his sentence ends on December 1, 2036.