Seven-month prison sentence for assaults

Thursday 14 July 2022

A man has been sentenced to seven months in prison for punching a woman in the head and kicking a man while he was on the ground.

Declan Glass (31) assaulted two victims on 1 May last year near the North Beach public toilets. Glass appeared in court yesterday (15 July) for sentencing.

Glass’ advocate, Sam Maindonald, said that Glass has stopped drinking alcohol since the incident. 

“My client has had a wake-up call as to the cause of his behaviour and recognised that, when he consumes alcohol, he cannot temper his emotional response,” she said. 

Pictured: The assaults took place near the public toilets at North Beach car park on 1 May 2021. 

Advocate Maindonald referenced Glass’ previous criminal history, although highlighted that the last relevant offence occurred in 2017 (with sentencing in 2018) and said that his circumstances had changed significantly since that time. 

Judge Gary Perry referred to Glass’ history as “appalling” but acknowledged that his behaviour was “much improved” since the last relevant incident. 

Judge Perry gave credit for Glass’ guilty plea and took account of the mitigating factors. However, he also referenced the probation report, which assessed Glass as having a “high risk” of reoffending.

Pictured: Declan Glass was sentenced to seven months in Les Nicolles.

“This was a serious incident involving kicks on the ground and a punch to the head of a female,” said Judge Perry. 

“Time and time again in this court we have said that kicks to a victim on the ground will result in a custodial sentence and I see no reason to change that.

“This is not role model behaviour and I hope you can turn it around, but you’ll forgive me for being skeptical that you will.”

Glass was sentenced to five months in prison for the assault on the male and two months for the assault on the female to run consecutively, totalling seven months in prison.