Troy Desmond Wells jailed for punching city shopkeeper

A Toowoomba man will spend time behind bars for his violent actions after he was accused of stealing bottles of vanilla essence from a city store.

FILE PHOTO

A TOOWOOMBA man who punched a shop keeper in the face when challenged about shoplifting has been handed a jail sentence.

Troy Desmond Wells had been caught on CCTV stealing two bottles of vanilla essence from a Ruthven St store in August 2020, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

When the 55-year-old shop attendant challenged him, Wells had called him a “dog ****” before punching him in the face and walking out, police prosecutor Cameron Francis told the court.

The victim was left with a small amount of bleeding inside his mouth, he said.

Police who viewed the CCTV footage of the incident identified Wells and later charged with stealing and common assault.

The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to both charges.

Mr Francis said of concern was Wells had in June this year been sentenced to 12 months’ jail with immediate parole on a separate charge of assault occasioning bodily harm.

Wells’ solicitor Michael Corbin submitted had this matter been dealt with when the other AOBH sentence was before the court his client may have received a concurrent sentence.

His client was on Newstart and doing well on parole, he said.

Magistrate Howard Osborne said the matter was serious and fined Wells $450 on the stealing charge and for the assault sentenced him to nine months in jail but ordered the whole term be suspended immediately for 12 months.