Shane Johnathon Sutton cops jail time for strangling 15-year-old girl

The 32-year-old appeared via video link from the prison to plead guilty to a total 28 offences including strangling a 15-year-old girl.

The 32-year-old appeared in court via video link from the prison to plead guilty to a total 28 offences including strangling a 15-year-old girl in Toowoomba.

A TOOWOOMBA man who pleaded guilty to strangling a 15-year-old girl during an argument has been jailed.

Shane Johnathon Sutton appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday via video link from the Brisbane Men’s Correctional Centre where he had been held since his arrest in May.

The court heard the pair were known to each other.

The teenager complained to police that during an argument Sutton had grabbed her by the throat and strangled her.

Sutton, 32, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm arising from that offence as well as to unrelated matters including causing a public nuisance on Australia Day, evading police and driving while disqualified, possessing property suspected as having been used in connection with the commission of a drug offence, possessing drug utensils, three counts of failing to appear in court and 18 counts of breaching bail conditions.

He had spent 84 days in pre-sentence custody since being taken into custody on arrest on May 28, the court heard.

Magistrate Howard Osborne said the assault occasioning bodily harm offence was the most serious of Sutton’s offending and sentenced him to 15 months in jail.

However, declaring the 84 days he had spent in custody as time served under the sentence, Mr Osborne ordered Sutton be released on parole on September 28 after having served four months in jail.

For the evasion offence Sutton was sentenced to 50 days in custody, time served, and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years and another two years disqualification for driving while disqualified.

For all other offences he was sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment.