A Sydney plumber has been sentenced to a one-year conditional release order after he drunkenly headbutted a police officer during a random breath test at a McDonald's in Moss Vale. Jayden Alex Parker, 23, appeared in Moss Vale Local Court on May 12, where he was sentenced for assaulting a police officer in the execution of duty. He had already spent eight days in custody.
The court heard that police were conducting a random breath test in the McDonald's car park at Moss Vale around 2:25am on March 21 when they stopped a Subaru carrying four men. According to court documents, officers approached the driver to conduct a breath test when two passengers exited the vehicle. One of the men, later identified as Parker, began yelling abuse at police, including "do you have nothing better to do you gronk," before becoming confrontational with an officer.
Parker stood close to the officer's face before lunging forward and making forceful contact with his forehead against the officer's nose. He was quickly restrained and arrested. The driver later returned a negative breath test. The court heard Parker had been drinking earlier in the day at his sister's wedding and later admitted his behaviour was wrong, apologising to police after realising the seriousness of the incident.
Body-worn camera footage of the incident was played in court. The defence solicitor argued the assault fell at the lower end of seriousness. "It's more to the chest and an accidental headbutt, it would fall on the lower end of serious," he said. The defence said Parker had been cooperative with police and was remorseful after viewing the footage himself. "He said it was shocking looking back at it," he said.
The court heard Parker was a qualified plumber from Sydney and his parents were in the process of splitting up at the time, which had significantly affected him. The defence argued it was unlikely Parker would return before the courts and argued the eight days already spent in custody had acted as a strong deterrent.
Judge David Degnan condemned Parker's behaviour, telling him police were simply carrying out their duties. "Don't you dare behave like that when police are performing their duty," he said. "If you want to get completely drunk and behave in a poor way. You want to front up to them and call them names. It was unacceptable." The judge warned Parker future offending would result in harsher punishment. "If you do that in the future you will spend more than eight days in custody," he said. "I've never heard anybody say they've enjoyed it. If staying in jail for eight days isn't a sober experience ..."
Parker was sentenced to a one-year conditional release order, with the eight days already served in custody taken into account.
