A man will spend at least six months behind bars over a dramatic siege that shut down a Bellambi neighbourhood for four hours earlier this year.
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Joshua Dendulk appeared via audio-visual link at Wollongong Local Court on Monday, seeming patient and amiable throughout proceedings.
It was a very different Dendulk to the highly agitated man of June 1, who led a standoff from a Robert Cram Drive property, at one point scaling a second-storey balcony, repeatedly injuring himself before he was wrestled into custody before a large crowd of police and neighbourhood spectators.
Officers had arrived in Bellambi about 10.50am to confront the 39-year-old about an alleged bail breach.
In court on Tuesday, defence lawyer Graeme Morrison argued for leniency, noting his client had never tried to come at police with the knife.
"Yes, he has has a lengthy [criminal] past, that's acknowledged. His actions on this particular day, we say, were sparked by the actions of police," Mr Morrison said.
"If you look at my client's history, he has great trouble staying calm."
He told the court Dendulk had now endured amost four months in jail, most of it under tight COVID-related restrictions that had left him without access to family.
But police prosecutor Leah Argent told the court Dendulk's offending and prior history left little room for leniency.
"He's only just completed a period of parole on 28 March in relation to an offence which included acquiring a firearm subject to a prohibition order, as well as two intimidate police offences," she said, noting he had also once served a four-year prison term for reckless wounding, and had failed to take advantage of drug rehabilitation and mental health programs in the past.
"He has had those opportunities in the past and yet he's before the court again.
"It's escalated into a siege situation that involves the use of a knife. The four months he has served is not adequate, given his record. He needs to be adequately punished."
Magistrate Girotto found the defence submission regarding police actions was "difficult".
"A lot of things happen because police are enforceing what they're supposed to enforce and things get out of hand. This happened because of him ... it's not the police doing what they're not supposed to do," she said.
"This could have been nothing, but your actions caused it to become very expensive and very fraught for police, because it turned into a siege," she added, addressing Dendulk.
"You've spent quite a lot of your life in custody and you need assistance. Drugs have been your demon your whole life."
Dendulk told the court: "I was just scared, I'm in the wrong".
He was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of six months. With time served, he will become eligible for release on December 1. He has also been placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.
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