A man has been sentenced to a year and a half behind bars for a string of offences carried out since the end of 2020.
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Jacob Trotter, 19, faced Inverell Local Court on Thursday charged with affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company, and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
This set of charges - one of four he was sentenced for last week - were laid after a man was beaten bloody near the Inverell RSM Club after New Year's Eve festivities at the turn of 2021.
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A group of people were leaving the club at around 1am when Trotter with four other people - one a coaccused - bailed them up.
Police facts tendered to court outlined that after the victim laughed at a joke as Trotter's group were turning away, he was punched repeatedly by the coaccused.
When another witness attempted to intercede, Trotter raised a four-inch 'metal rod' and said "get off him or I'll stab ya", saying to the others "don't come any closer".
The victim was taken to hospital with bruising and lacerations to his face, and the witnesses went to the police station to make a statement.
Trotter's solicitor, Lucas Swan, wrote to the courts in February to change his plea of 'not guilty' to 'guilty', and the hearing date scheduled for June was cancelled and he was set down for sentencing.
Trotter's coaccused, 27-year-old Dallas Beau Leece, was sentenced earlier this year for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He received a 15-month full-time jail term, with a non-parole period of six months.
Trotter also faced another set of charges stemming from a search warrant executed in Warialda in August 2020. They included possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit, using a prohibited weapon and possessing a prohibited drug.
While he wasn't at home at the time of the raid, his family members got the code to his safe off of him, to reveal 10 cannabis seeds. Police also found a prohibited metal slingshot.
In statements tendered to court, police said he was currently subject to a firearms and weapons prohibition order, and had been before the courts on a number of occasions "for similar offending recently", coming under increased police attention for street crimes.
Trotter was also sentenced for an assault charge for punching a man in the face in November, and for driving while his license was suspended on December 21, 2020.
Taking all matters into account, Magistrate Holly Kemp sentenced Trotter to a combined prison sentence of 18 months, with a non-parole period of 10 months.
She found special circumstances in shortening the sentence, namely his youth and "risk of institutionalisation", and his need for supervision upon his release on parole.
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