A 36-YEAR-OLD Waverley man sentenced in the Launceston Magistrates Court to 10 weeks' jail had demonstrated genuine remorse by pleading guilty, a Launceston magistrate said.
Robert Craig Williams, 36, pleaded guilty recently to two counts of breaching a family violence order, two counts of breaching Supreme Court bail and one count of driving while disqualified.
Magistrate Ken Stanton said the commonality for all the offences was a disregard for court orders.
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"Court orders must be obeyed because if they aren't the administration of justice is brought into disrepute," he said.
Last week defence counsel Olivia Jenkins told the court that the breaches involved a breach of curfew and did not involve threats or abuse and did not involve any actual violence. She said Williams had spent much of his life in custody. Mr Stanton said William's guilty plea attracted a reduction in sentence.
"I think there is genuine remorse and the defendant has a broad range of prior offences but it is not of the nature and extent of previous offending," he said.
He backdated the sentence to January 22 when Williams was taken into custody. He said a pre-sentence report had indicated good prospects and ordered that he be placed on a community correction order for six months from release.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
