An Illawarra man who had to be rescued by firefighters after falling through the roof of a Corrimal business earlier this year has had his criminal charges dismissed under mental health legislation.
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The man, who the Mercury has chosen not to name, was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by police on the evening of January 17 after it was seen doing a U-turn across double unbroken lines on the Princes Highway.
Officers were speaking with the female driver when the man jumped out of the vehicle for no apparent reason and ran off down the road.
Police gave chase but lost sight of him in a dark carpark on Railway Street.
However, a few minutes later they spotted the 24-year-old climbing up a mesh fence and onto the roof of a nearby building.
He then began running across a number of awnings and refused to stop when police told him to come down, allegedly taunting them from above.
Court documents said the man was above the Vanity Rage Boutique when he fell through the fibro roof.
Police climbed onto the roof themselves to discover the man hanging through the hole his body had made.
Firefighters were called in to help the man out of the hole and remove him from the roof.
He was subsequently charged with entering enclosed lands and property damage.
In court on Friday, defence lawyer Caitlin Drabble tendered reports from treating doctors saying her client had been diagnosed with bipolar, which directly contributed to his actions that night.
She confirmed he had a fear of police which had caused him to run from the scene, despite the fact police had shown no interest in him one way or another during the traffic stop.
Magistrate Mark Douglass accepted that the man had had “difficulties” in his life since the age of three and that his mental illness had caused him to have the bizarre reaction that night.
“Clearly he was not thinking clearly and I have put that down to his mental condition,” Magistrate Douglass said.
The charges against the man were dismissed on the condition he abide by the directions of a mental health treatment plan, which includes attending medical appointments and taking his medication.