A young but experienced criminal who had serious matters pending before court got into a punch on with another crook at the Wodonga Police Station holding cells.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Eric Chew was inside the station's exercise yard on October 1 last year, having been arrested nine days earlier for a baseball bat attack on a man inside his own home in front of his son.
Chew, for unknown reasons, had a dispute with another detainee at the station, leading to grappling and punches being thrown about 12.50pm.
A police officer heard yelling and called for backup, with more police entering the custody area.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The pair were told to stop fighting, but didn't, which led to police discharging capsicum spray.
Neither offender was injured and the pair was separated.
Chew faced Wodonga court this week for the incident, and for breaching community corrections orders imposed for a spate of other offences.
But his conduct was eclipsed by the baseball bat attack, with a minimum two-and-a-half year sentence imposed for the incident last week.
Chew was one of three men who attended the London Road home on August 19 last year, fuelled by ice and in search of drugs and cash.
Kayne Phillips, Garry Burns and Damon Mirkovic were also involved in the incident, which involved a 57-year-old man being struck in the leg with the bat.
Chew, who was the ringleader, won't be eligible for release until early 2021, and is serving a maximum four-and-a-half year term.
He has already served about 450 days behind bars as part of the sentence.
The court heard he had been a model inmate in custody at Ravenhall, and had been so well behaved he had been given responsibilities.
Magistrate Ian Watkins added a $600 fine with $84 in costs.
He ordered Chew serve two months in jail for the police station fight and other offending, which will run at the same time as his current sentence. He can convert the fines to additional jail time.
