Melbourne police shooting: Anger over cop shooters’ jail sentence
THE mother of a Victorian police officer who was shot in the head by two men fresh out of prison is “disgusted” his attackers will spend just six years back in jail.
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THE mother of a Victorian police officer who was shot in the head by two men fresh out of prison is “disgusted” his attackers will spend just six years back in jail.
Constable Ben Ashmole was badly wounded by shotgun pellets on July 7, 2015 while trying to intercept Rodney Phillips and Sam Liszczak.
The pair had come from firing shots that night at the home of George Williams, the father of murdered Melbourne drug kingpin Carl Williams. They had only been out of prison a few days.
The pair were sentenced in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with Phillips to serve a maximum of eight years in prison, with a non-parole period of six years and two months.
Liszczak will serve a maximum of seven years and 10 months, with a non-parole period of six years.
Constable Ashmole had been in the job for just 18 months, and still has 11 pellets lodged in his skull following the shooting.
He says he was conscious during the whole ordeal and remembers everything. “It’s an ongoing issue, it’s something I deal with every day,” he said outside court on Tuesday.
“There’s obviously additional stressors, sleepless nights, extra concerns pulling over cars, (I’m) more cautious in everything I do.”
Constable Ashmole’s mother, Sharen Joy, said she hoped to see his attackers get 15 or 20 years in prison for the pain the family has suffered.
“The anguish as a parent, as a mother to get that phone call first thing in the morning, to tell me that my son had been shot in the head, you never get over that,” she told reporters.
“He could have murdered my son.
“I’m really, really upset and angry at such a small sentence.”
In sentencing the two men, Justice Michael Croucher took into consideration their young age — Phillips is 25 and Liszczak is 23 — and their prospects of rehabilitation, which he described as “guarded”.
But Justice Croucher couldn’t overlook the “gratuitous and merciless” shooting at close range.
“To be subjected to such frightening violence is totally unacceptable,” he said.
As the men were being led into custody, Liszczak shook Phillips’ hand and smirked, saying “see ya” as he left the courtroom.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the sentences were “manifestly inadequate ... and an indictment on our justice system.
Mr Gatt said Constable Ashmole went within millimetres of death and still has 11 pellets lodged in his head while his partner Tom Wospil was lucky to escape serious injury.
“Today’s sentencing confirms what we and the community have suspected for a long time — that our justice system is failing when someone can shoot at a police officer in the back of the head and receive such a pitifully light sentence,” he said.
“Such a woeful sentence disrespects many in our community who deserve so much more.
“It is little wonder we are seeing such flagrant disrespect for our law on a daily basis. The crooks are winning. It’s high time this changed.”
— AAP