“Last chance” for violent fisherman

Thursday 04 October 2018

Having assaulted his parents and broken into his ex-girlfriend’s house, a local fisherman - who was already on probation after threatening fisheries officers - has been given “one final chance” by the courts.

David Andrew Sullivan (24) was sentenced to 160 hours’ worth of community service in the Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Despite being officially ordered to keep out of trouble earlier this year, the Magistrate's Court heard that Sullivan broke into his former partner’s house twice and caused damage to her property in July.

On another occasion, Sullivan was reported as having visited his parents’ house after drinking heavily. An argument ensued, leading to Sullivan “pulling his father out of bed, shouting and swearing."

"His mother intervened, but he pushed her down onto the bed and held her shoulders," the Court heard. Relaying the facts of the case, Crown Advocate Chris Baglin told the court that Sullivan then “smashed up the house telephone… to vent his anger.”

Sullivan was represented by Advocate Alison Brown, who said that her client felt “deeply held remorse and regret” for his actions and asked Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz, presiding, to consider a “last chance saloon” probation order.

Advocate Brown said: “Mr Sullivan wants to sort himself out and to do that he will have to accept external help.”

Pictured: David Andrew Sullivan was sentenced in the Magistrate's Court to 160 hours of community service.

After hearing both sides of the case, the Relief Magistrate addressed Sullivan: “You put your former girlfriend in fear [by] threatening her”, adding that on one of these occasions, children were in the house. Relief Magistrate Fitz continued: “One would say that you certainly deserve to go to custody.”

Although the offences were serious enough to warrant time in prison, Relief Magistrate Fitz imposed a probation order, community service and a restraining order as an alternative to a prison sentence to ensure that Sullivan addresses his “drink and anger issues."

“In many ways this will be harder for you than a period in custody," the Relief Magistrate told Sullivan.

She emphasised to Sullivan that this was his “last chance” to better himself, saying: “This is a high-risk order because of your previous breaches, but we are giving you one final chance.”

Sullivan was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, which is the equivalent of 10 months in prison, a compensation order to fix his parents’ phone, and a restraining order to restrict his contact with his ex-girlfriend.