Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt says the state government must adjust sentencing laws

The Police Association secretary says the decision not to appeal a cop basher’s controversial jail sentence “represents a dire fault within our legal system”.

Victoria’s police association is furious over the decision not to appeal the sentence handed to the man who attacked two officers with a baseball bat in Warrnambool.

Steven Cleary, 50, was last month jailed for a minimum of one year and 10 months for assaulting Senior Constable Rowan Baldman and Constable William Ringin after the pair stopped a teenager to ask him why he wasn’t wearing a face mask.

But with time already served, Cleary could walk free as soon as August next year.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt has called the legal system into question over advice the Office of Public Prosecutions was unable to appeal the sentence.

“Any right-minded Victorian can see this sentence doesn’t fit the crime,” Mr Gatt said in a statement.

“Today’s advice from the OPP, that it cannot consider an appeal of the sentence in relation to this matter represents a dire fault within our legal system.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt says the sentence doesn’t fit the crime. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“This has to change, but it is beyond the role of the OPP to do that.”

Under law, appeal courts cannot increase sentences deemed “lenient” rather than “manifestly inadequate”.

Prosecutors only argue for increased sentences when they believe the judge made a major error.

Mr Gatt has called on the state government to adjust sentencing laws to focus more on the crime rather than the offender’s circumstances, with Judge Anne Hassan having to consider Cleary’s “significant mental health issues” when handing down the verdict.

“Sentencing that meets the community’s expectations must become a priority and a reality in Victoria,” Mr Gatt said.

“Steps must be taken to recalibrate the system to provide more protection to the community than to an offender’s circumstances in such cases of serious offending.”

Jail sentence won’t be appealed

The state’s top prosecutor will not appeal a controversial sentence handed to the perpetrator of a “sickening” baseball bat attack on two police officers at Warrnambool.

Stephen Cleary, 50, was last month jailed for a minimum of one year and 10 months for attacking Senior Constable Rowan Baldman and Constable William Ringin.

Judge Anne Hassan blasted Cleary’s conduct as “intolerable” and “horrific”, and the officers both said they feared for their lives during the attack.

Bodycam footage shows Cleary carrying out the ‘sickening’ attack.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton described the sentence of three years and two months, with a one year and 10 month non-parole period, as “disappointing” and wrote to Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd to ask her to consider appealing.

Cleary, who suffers from psychotic delusions and who had refused mental health treatment in the lead-up to his arrest, turned on the two officers when they stopped a teenage boy to ask him why he was not wearing a face mask.

As he swung a baseball bat at the cowering officers, Cleary said: “I am the king … you are dogs … this is an act of war”.

The teenage boy had refused to give his name to the officers, and contacted Cleary, who arrived armed, by walkie talkie.

Senior Constable Rowan Baldman says his vision went blurry and his head was shaking.

Ms Judd made the decision not to appeal following a meeting on Thursday morning, after the case had been reviewed by a crown prosecutor.

She declined to tell the Herald Sun why she chose not to appeal.

She said she would issue a public statement in the coming days.

Prosecutors only ask appeal courts to increase sentences when judges made major errors, and appeal courts cannot increase sentences which are “lenient” rather than “manifestly inadequate”.

Cleary was eventually tasered.

Cleary has been behind bars since his arrest on the day of the attack in October last year, and could be released as early as August 2023.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt described Cleary’s attack on the two officers as “one of the most serious and premeditated assaults I’ve seen on two police officers in uniform”.

“For them to be set upon in the way that they were … the word shocking doesn’t accurately describe the degree of that assault,” he said.

In a statement provided to Judge Hassan prior to Cleary’s sentencing Sen Con Baldman said he often begins to cry uncontrollably at the thought of what happened and worried he would never feel safe at work again.