A visiting Sydney judge has publicly released CCTV footage of a man’s epic tantrum inside a Wollongong courtroom after he was sentenced to jail time over a violent glassing incident.
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Jesse John Rose became irate and highly aggressive on the afternoon of April 6 this year after Wollongong District Court’s permanent sitting judge, Andrew Haesler, said he would be spending the next 14 months in jail after glassing a man at the Central Hotel at Shellharbour in May 2016.
With his girlfriend sobbing uncontrollably in the public gallery, Rose, a one-time aspiring rugby league player, swore and kicked the door of the dock before moving out into the body of the courtroom and “shaping up” to Corrective Services staff who were attempting to take him into custody.
He then stepped back towards the bar table and picked up two chairs in quick succession, holding each one above his head and throwing them at the officers.
Moments later, one of the officers rounded the dock and confronted Rose, who began throwing punches in his direction.
The officer managed to grab Rose in a bear hug while another officer tackled him from behind.
The pair took him to the ground where they lay on top of him, trying to subdue him, as he struggled to break free.
Meantime, Rose’s father could be seen and heard urging his son not to fight against the officers.
Rose was eventually restrained, pulled to his feet and taken to the holding cells below the court with the help of police, sheriffs and other Correctives staff.
The entire incident was captured on the court’s CCTV cameras.
Police subsequently charged Rose with property damage and assaulting a law enforcement officer, to which he pleaded guilty.
He was sentenced to an extra eight months behind bars in Wollongong Local Court last month, moving his earliest release date from June 2019 to February 2020.
However, Rose lodged an appeal against the severity of the sentence, which was heard in Wollongong District Court this week in front of visiting judge Warwick Hunt.
Rose’s lawyer, Elizabeth Parkes, said her client’s behaviour that day was borne out of frustration at not being able to say goodbye to his family.
“He’d been assessed as suitable for an intensive corrections order and he thought that would be the outcome,” she said.
“He’s incredibly sorry for his behaviour.”
Ms Parkes said Rose had been a model inmate since his incarceration.
Judge Hunt agreed to reduce Rose’s minimum jail time by two months, meaning he will now be eligible for release in December next year. However, he also added another two months to his time on parole.