North Orange Woolworths in lockdown: Joshua Hannelly faces Orange Local Court

Joshua William Hannelly, 30, formerly of Matthews Avenue, Orange pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, resisting police and assaulting police, as well as using offensive language in a public place.

He was also sentenced for a separate offence of driving with methamphetamine in his blood.

Hannelly was present in Orange Local Court for sentencing on Wednesday, August 9.

Magistrate David Day said he had already seen the video of the car park incident describing Hannelly's actions as, "excessive". The video was not played again in court.

According to court documents, Woolworths staff saw Hannelly kicking the roller door at the BWS in the North Orange Shopping Centre at 9.50pm on Saturday, July 7, 2022.

The staff members followed Hannelly so they could lock him out of the centre to prevent him causing further damage. He walked out slowly and kicked more items in the foyer and abused a woman he was with.

He was heard loudly shouting and swearing at the woman and the staff members and once outside he approached the back of a parked vehicle, opened the door and spoke to unknown occupants.

He was then involved in a fight with an unknown male who assaulted him. Hannelly also struck his head on a steel bin during the fight.

The woman then demanded he get into her vehicle and at this time the victim and another Woolworths staff member exited the shopping centre having heard Hannelly yelling in the carpark.

Hannelly was involved in a heated push-and-shove outside the shopping centre before punching the victim in the mouth, cutting the inside of the victim's bottom lip'

Several staff members contacted police realising the situation was escalating and becoming more violent.

The staff members then retreated back into the shopping centre while being abused by Hannelly and they managed to close the roller door before he could enter the store.

Police arrived at 10.10pm and spoke with Hannelly, who appeared to be swaying, slurring his words, he had bloodshot eyes and difficulty comprehending police and smelt of alcohol.

While police tried to speak with him he continued to interrupt them and swore and argued with them and called one a "ginger c--t".

He was warned that continuing to use offensive language in a public place was an offence.

Police tried to arrest Hannelly after speaking with witnesses but he kept his hands in his pockets and stuck his chest out saying, "you're not arresting me. You're not touching me".

He continued to resist and eventually police performed a leg sweep to get him on the ground so they could control him and secure his hands in handcuffs.

He tried to pull away again while police were leading him to a nearby bench while they waited for a caged vehicle so to regain control, the police performed a second leg sweep.

After being knocked down by the leg sweep, Hannelly kicked a Senior Constable twice in the leg.

At the same time Hannelly told the Scenior Constable "I'll crack ya jaw" and "I'll f---in' find ya when you're not in uniform".

Police regained control and Hannelly was placed in the back of the waiting police vehicle when it arrived.

At the police station, Hannelly urinated inside the cell and continued to be abusive and aggressive towards police.

At the time of the offending Hannelly was on conditional liberty have been granted bail on June 29, 2022, with conditions he be of good behaviour and not contact prosecution witnesses from another matter.

Police also caught Hannelly driving with methamphetamine in his system in September last year.

Hannelly was driving on Maramba Street, Orange when he was stopped by the police for a random breath and drug test.

After the drugs were found in his system he told police he'd been at a place where meth was being smoked.

Solicitor Sharyn Woolf said Hannelly had consumed prescription medication before the event and the medications did not react well with each other, she said he also sustained a frontal lobe injury when he hit his head.

She said he has mental health issues and presented a letter from a psychiatrist.

"He is remorseful for his actions and that is documented by his letter to the victim," she added.

She said he was recently given a community correction order in Mudgee Local Court for a similar offence and asked Mr Day to consider another community-based sentence, even if he considered the custodial sentence to be crossed.

"He has spent two months in incarceration on remand for this event," Ms Woolf said.

Mr Day described the methamphetamine use from the driving offence as "one of he elephants in the room", particularly in regard to Hannelly's psychiatric issues.

"Without making any assumptions, if he's suffering from ADHA and bipolar, then his voluntary consumption of [methamphetamine] poses a real problem, doesn't it?" he said.

He also said mental health issues aren't only mitigating circumstances but they could make Hannelly a danger to the community unless they are properly addressed and he doesn't take drugs.

Quoting from a previous case in the court of appeal, Mr Day said "police are involved in a thankless task," and continued saying they face significant risks while performing their duties.

"One must look at the previous criminal offences and also that he was on conditional liberty at the time," Mr Day said and read out some of Hannelly's past offences.

"The offending is so serious in my view that the assault on the worker and with the police should attract a custodial sentence of 12 months."

Mr Day convicted Hannelly of the assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the worker and the resist and assault police offences and gave him a 12-month full-time jail sentence with a six-month non-parole period.

Hannelly is appealing the severity of that jail sentence.

Mr Day also convicted Hannelly without further penalty for using offensive language.

He gave him a similar conviction without further penalty for driving with drugs in his system but for that offence he disqualified Hannelly's driver's licence for six months.

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