A 27-year-old man who spat blood in the face of a prison officer, bit a police officer and caused a police officer to take evasive action during an evade police incident was sentenced to a 14-month jail sentence on Tuesday.
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Barry Ray Allen received a four-month sentence for evading police and a further 10 months for an array of offences comprising nearly 80 counts.
However, Magistrate Sharon Cure ordered that he need only do half of the respective sentences-a total of seven months-and suspended the rest.
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"That means you will be eligible for parole about now and you will need to persuade the Parole Board that you are going to comply," she said.
Allen pleaded guilty to destroying $1800 worth of property when he attempted to take shoplifting prevention tags off five jackets in an Anaconda store in Devonport.
He also stole $52 worth of petrol from a Paterson Street service station and stole $2000 worth of Rip Curl fashion items from a Deloraine sports store.
In a previous hearing, Ms Cure ordered a psychiatric assessment of Allen and harked back to some previous "disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour" when he used her Christian name as she left the court.
The psychiatric assessment found that he had a personality disorder but was not necessarily bipolar.
Allen previously pleaded guilty to numerous matters including assault, stealing, breaching bail and driving offences.
In the evade police incident at a service station in Devonport in February an officer pulled a firearm before Allen drove away forcing the officer to jump out of the way.
The car brushed the officer's trousers, a common assault.
The court heard that Allen drove recklessly by speeding, overtaking cars on the incorrect side of the street forcing vehicles to take evasive action and then went the wrong way around a roundabout.
Stealing counts covered a $250 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne from BWS in Prospect, $2544 worth of items from Woolworths at Legana, $400 of wine and soft drink from Elaia Cafe in Charles Street and a lawnmower and cash register from the Greek Orthodox Church in Launceston.
The court heard he had a liking for sunglasses and fragrances.
He stole $299 worth of fragrances from Chemist Warehouse in November 2019 and stole 11 pairs of Oakley sunglasses worth $3000 in January 2020.
He also stole $754 worth of sunglasses from OPSM in Devonport in February 2020.
A staff member from Autobarn at Devonport had to take evasive action after attempting to intercept Allen after the theft of $1300 worth of UHF radios.
Allen was arrested on February 16, 2020, during which he bit hard enough on the hand of gloves wearing officer to draw blood.
On February 18, he put a mattress over himself at the Launceston Remand Centre before spitting blood three times into the face, eyes, nose and mouth of a custodial officer.