A 52-year-old man who assaulted a woman by putting his hands round her neck, and became aggressive towards paramedics attending to her, has been put on probation for nine months.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Kursten John Bree had already served the equivalent of three months in custody since the incident on 25 November last year.
Legal adviser Kerry Grieve, prosecuting, said Bree had phoned community service supervisors that day to tell them that the woman was too ill to attend a session.
The supervisors went to her home and found she and Bree were both “heavily drunk”. The woman was in bed and drifting in and out of consciousness.
They called paramedics who saw Bree place his hands on the woman’s shoulders and then move them up to her neck.
“She appeared to cower away from him as much as possible,” said Ms Grieve.
The paramedics tried to get him to leave the room.
“He tensed up and became aggressive,” Ms Grieve added.
The court also heard that Bree had previous convictions for causing a breach of the peace.
Advocate Allana Binnie, defending, said Bree did not remember anything of the incident as he had been drunk, but added: “He accepts the prosecution’s evidence.”
She said that earlier that day he had been alarmed to find the woman slumped over the sofa, having apparently taken some of his medication, and helped her to bed.
“He was genuinely trying to keep her safe,” she said.
Of the grabbing of the woman’s neck, the advocate said: “He describes his behaviour as disgusting and knows there are no excuses for it.
“It was a single act, not a sustained assault. It was a low-level common assault.”
Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz told Bree: “The court takes any grabbing of the neck very seriously.”
She accepted that he had already served the equivalent of almost three months in custody if the discount for a guilty plea is counted.
She imposed the probation order but warned him: “If there are any further incidents the court will take a different approach and you will be looking at a substantial period in custody.”