Risdon Prison siege leader Michael Linden Dennison cops more jail time for bashing fellow inmate

A Risdon Prison siege leader has been punished for a bashing attack on another inmate that left his victim with “10 out of 10 pain”. LATEST FROM COURT >>

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A RISDON Prison inmate will spend another eight months behind bars after he was found guilty of bashing a fellow prisoner out of sight of the jail’s camera surveillance system.

It was not the first time that Michael Linden Dennison, 44, had committed crimes while in custody – he previously repeatedly stabbed another fellow prisoner with an improvised knife, set his bed on fire, assaulted a prison guard, and was one of the leaders of a prison siege during 2005.

On Friday, Supreme Court acting judge Shane Marshall said a jury found Dennison guilty of the March 2019 assault on fellow prisoner Trent James Jones, injuring his eye and fracturing his cheekbone.

He said the assault came about amid “ill feeling” between Jones and the other inmates in the medium security Gordon Delta Unit, with claims he was leaving syringes around and that he had called Dennison a “two-faced c...”.

Acting Justice Marshall said Dennison entered Jones’s room and committed the assault.

“Mr Jones experienced 10 out of 10 pain immediately as Mr Dennison had put all his weight behind the punch,” he said.

“Mr Dennison told him to say he’d fallen over in the shower, and that if he was charged, Mr Jones should ‘look out’.”

Jones was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital with injuries to the left side of his face that restricted movement of his eye and a fractured cheekbone that required resetting.

Acting Justice Marshall said the attack had been carried out on a weaker prisoner, and that Dennison had a significant criminal history, including in a prison setting.

He said in 2005, Dennison had been one of the leaders of a siege that effectively took over a section of Risdon Prison.

Dennison was sentenced to 15 months in jail, with a non-parole period of eight months.

The sentence was backdated to June 1, when Dennison would have otherwise been eligible to apply for parole over other offending.

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A man who hit an 81-year-old woman with his car in the city has had charges of negligent driving causing death and driving without due care and attention dismissed.

Fifty-year-old air traffic controller Paul Anthony Sciberras appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon after he previously pleaded not guilty to both charges.

The court had heard about 2.50pm on April 30 last year, Kingston Beach woman Irene Ganley was struck by Mr Sciberras’ Nissan Pathfinder station wagon as he was turning right and she was crossing Victoria Street at the intersection of Harrington St in Hobart.

Magistrate Chris Webster said Mr Sciberras did not see Mrs Ganley for a number of reasons, including that the sun was shining directly into his eyes, shadows in Victoria St made it difficult to see, and Mrs Ganley’s clothing had blended in with the dark the building behind her.

“The defendant may not have been able to see Mrs Ganley later in her progress across the street due to a blind spot being created by the A pillar (vertical support pillar on his car),” Mr Webster said.

The magistrate said Mr Sciberras had driven well below the 50km/h speed limit, did not have drugs or alcohol in his system and had made an immediate call to triple-0 after the crash.

Hobart Magistrates Court, Liverpool St. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Richard Jupe

Mr Webster said Mr Sciberras, who lives at Oyster Cove, had about 2.9 seconds to see Mrs Ganley – a task made more difficult by the tint of his sunglasses and windows.

“The A pillar of the defendant’s vehicle created a blind spot which could have obscured the defendant’s view of Mrs Ganley for a lengthy part of her transit across Victoria St,” he said.

“It has been suggested that the defendant should have looked around the pillar, which created the blind spot, to see whether anyone was in the blind spot as he was negotiating the right-hand turn.

“I do not accept that argument.”

Mr Webster dismissed the charges against Mr Sciberras, saying there was not enough evidence to suggest a prudent driver would have avoided the crash.