A homeless man who accused a magistrate of cannibalism in a bizarre outburst during an assault hearing walked free from the Launceston Magistrates court on Monday.
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Bradley Collins, 31, was found guilty of assault and stealing by Magistrate Ken Stanton on top of numerous pleas of guilty to charges including escape, resist police, breach of bail, fail to appear and drug possession.
Collins also pleaded guilty to punching a taxi driver and absconding to avoid a $6.80 taxi fare.
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Mr Stanton said Collins resorted to violence when he did not get his way.
He activated a 30-day suspended sentence from 2019 and added a further 172-day global sentence for the most recent crimes.
He backdated both sentences to when Collins was taken into custody on December 10, 2019, allowing him to walk from the court.
In sentencing, Mr Stanton said the Collins' evidence in the assault case was difficult.
"He produced bizarre outbursts including accusing me of cannibalism," he said.
"It led to discussion about his fitness to stand trial but he was found to be fit."
The assault occurred on July 11, 2019, when Collins became aggressive at a store and was asked to leave.
He threw store the manager to the ground and punched him in the face and back of the head and then stole a $700 mobile phone and ran off.
"The defendant had no justification in punching Mr Delaney to the face," he said.
Collins also pleaded guilty to trespass after getting on a Metro bus when he knew he was banned.
In August, he tried to kick a police officer during a violent struggle when police were trying to arrest him.