A man who abused staff at a government services office in Narooma, assaulted a worker at a bottle shop and intimidated staff at a pub has been sentenced at Batemans Bay Local Court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Gavin Peter Howard of Narooma was charged with 12 offences including common assault, four counts of stalk or intimidate with intent of causing mental harm or physical fear, behave in offensive manner in or near public place or school, enter enclosed lands without consent, hinder or resist a police officer, fail to leave premises when required, drive or use unregistered vehicle, drive vehicle with tax unpaid and operate vehicle to cause driving wheels to undergo sustained loss of traction on Monday, October 23.
The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges and appeared in the court dock when Magistrate Doug Dick handed down his sentence.
The court heard that between October 13 and 18, Howard was arrested multiple times after being abusive and aggressive towards staff at three different businesses in Narooma.
On October 13, Howard was abusive towards staff at the Services Australia office in Narooma and appeared to be "rambling" about the office's opening hours.
Three days later, the office's site manager called Howard to tell him he was suspended from visiting all Services Australia buildings for 10 days. Howard "immediately" became belligerent and abusive, according to documents tendered to the court.
Shortly after the phone call, the site manager called an emergency services contact within Services Australia and saw Howard driving towards the front doors of the office.
Another staff member watched Howard as he "revved" his engine loudly, jerked the car back and forward and drove within 15 centimetres of the glass doors.
READ MORE:
Police arrested Howard later that day and took him to Narooma Police Station. He was granted bail.
Shortly after 7pm on October 18, an intoxicated Howard went to BWS Narooma carrying a skateboard deck and tried to purchase alcohol. Howard narrowly missed a staff member when he "swiped" a can at them after they refused to serve him and asked him to leave. He began swearing at them and "belted" the deck multiple times on the counter, according to police documents.
He is now banned for life from entering the bottle shop.
A few minutes later, Howard walked onto the deck of O'Briens Hotel in Narooma and approached a patron, asking them to buy him a beer. The pub's manager approached Howard and asked him why he was there because he was banned from the establishment.
Howard began "slapping" the deck on a table, yelling and swearing before walking towards the exit ramp and hitting a pergola pole several times with the deck.
The Narooma man became hostile towards police when they arrested him later that night and began kicking at officers whilst getting into the caged police car.
Howard's solicitor Lisa Stone told the court that he went to Services Australia to "get help".
"He tried three or four times to get help," she said.
"He couldn't get it and that behaviour occurred."
Ms Stone said Howard had no intention of driving his car through the office's glass doors.
According to police documents, officers had been receiving reports which indicated there was an escalating level of fear of Howard from people in the community.
Mr Dick told Howard he "dug himself a bigger hole" by going to O'Briens Hotel.
"You shouldn't have been there to start with," he said.
Mr Dick sentenced him to a 15-month intensive corrections order and fined him a total of $3100.
