An Adelaide man who took his ex-partner and her children on a wild city police chase that ended in a siege is not a “serious repeat criminal”, a court has been told.
The Advertiser’s chief court reporter Sean Fewster says Damien Keith Hall, who has also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting another woman, is ineligible to receive a “harsher-than-usual prison term”.
“The indecent assault amounts to an offence that would be considered serious, as do three of the four offences committed during the chase and siege,” prosecutor Lucy Boord told the court.
“But those siege offences make up a single occurrence, so as it stands he has two convictions in relation to serious offending, not three.
“That’s a long-winded way of saying he effectively has two strikes now and, on commission of any other serious offence, it will be mandatory to declare him a serious repeat offender.”
A woman sexually assaulted, a high-speed chase with children in the car and a police shooting – but this #Adelaide gunman is not a serious repeat offender, court told: https://t.co/SWTaPf9PZ1 via @theTiser
— Sean Fewster (@SeanFewster) May 15, 2018
