Alan George Wust in court for assault occasioning bodily harm

An abusive man who tackled the mother of his child to the ground before trying to take the guns off police who came to help her then tried to goad them into shooting him.

Alan George Wust, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm and obstructing police when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this week.

Consumed by jealousy, a plasterer chased his partner across the yard before tackling her in a “bear hug” and trying to grab the firearms of police who had arrived at the scene.

Alan George Wust, 33, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and obstructing police when he faced Hervey Bay District Court this week.

Crown prosecutor Aden Tranent said the offending involved Wust’s partner when there had been an altercation between the two.

Wust had put his partner in a “bear hug”, causing her to fall to the ground and suffer bodily harm.

Consumed by jealousy, a plasterer chased his partner across the yard before tackling her in a “bear hug” and trying to grab the firearms of police who had arrived at the scene.

Mr Tranent said when police arrived Wust obstructed police and tried to grab their firearms.

He had been in presentence custody for 301 days, the court was told.

He had no criminal history.

Defence barrister Natalie Keys said her client should be sentenced to time served.

She said Wust had lived an otherwise law-abiding life, working as a plasterer and in security.

He was one of four siblings, Mr Keys said.

Trauma surrounding the death of his brother and a decision to move to Hervey Bay had contributed to Wust’s stress, with the move causing significant financial pressure, he said.

Wust had experienced a significant decline in his mental health and had at one point been hospitalised for severe depression and anxiety.

A letter was submitted to the court from a doctor regarding his mental state.

Wust wanted to reunite with his partner and repair the damage he had done, and to attend a Men Choosing Change course to address his anger issues.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren said Wust’s offending happened on July 25 and the trigger seemed to be his jealousy over her communications with another man.

The woman had become scared when they argued and she went to the garage.

He had chased her into the front yard before tackling her in a bear hug, causing her to fall to the ground and her nose ring to fall out.

When police arrived, Wust approached one of the officers, grabbed his vest and told him to just take him to jail, Judge Rosengren said.

When two officers tried to push him back, he tried to get the officer’s gun and continued to try to grab their weapons until he was detained.

He told the police to kill him and to just shoot him in the face, Judge Rosengren said.

“One might think that’s indicative of your mental state at the time, rather than an attempt to harm them, although this would have been a very unpleasant situation for them to have to try to deal with.”

The victim was left with a bleeding nose and sore chest, neck and back.

“If you stop to think about it, you might be quite ashamed of the way that you treated not only your partner, but the mother of your young child,” Judge Rosengren said.

She said the police were simply doing their job and should not have been treated like that.

Judge Rosengren declared the 301 days and sentenced Wust to time served, with immediate release.

Originally published as Alan George Wust in court for assault occasioning bodily harm