Benjamin Anthony Dinan was warned in Albury Local Court yesterday that unless he dealt with his cannabis and alcohol issues, he faced a lifetime of being in and out of custody.

Magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim said it was obvious that Dinan suffered from significant mental health issues, in particular, his schizophrenia diagnosis.

But Mr Abdul-Karim said it was also a fact that if Dinan got himself into a purposeful, positive frame of mind by getting work, adhered to his medication and stopped smoking cannabis and drinking he had a very good chance of not suffering relapses.

The 30-year-old’s conduct in grabbing the policeman’s throat, he said, was especially serious. Mr Abdul-Karim told Dinan it was clear he had the love of his family, given his mother and grandparents were in court, but he could not rely on others to fix his problems.

“You must accept responsibility,” he said. “You need to work hard on the issues that led you into custody.”

Dinan has been in custody since the tractor driving incident in August over which he pleaded guilty to possessing implements to enter or drive a convenience, possess a prohibited drug, two counts of assaulting police, resist police, contravene an apprehended violence order, a second offence of drive while disqualified and intimidate police.

He also pleaded guilty to several other unrelated charges over a previous matter.

It was about 9pm on August 4 that police were alerted to the fact a man was driving a tractor in the Malbec Court.

When police arrived, neighbours pointed out Dinan hiding behind a fence near his ex-partner’s home.

In addition to resisting and assaulting police when they tried to arrest him, he later threatened a female custody officer that he would slit her throat and those of her children.

Dinan will be eligible for release on February 3, 2019.