A prisoner has copped more jail time after pleading guilty to assaulting officers and a fellow inmate in two different prisons.
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Rushworth man David Paul Ryan pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to two charges of assault and assaulting an emergency worker on duty in relation to incidents in two prisons last year.
In January last year, Ryan was waiting in line for a meal at the Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat when he accused another inmate of staring at him.
More court news:
A verbal argument broke out and Ryan pushed the other inmate in the chest.
The man called Ryan a "f***king idiot", who responded by spitting in the man's face, with saliva getting into his eyes and onto another inmate behind him.
The victim said he was not fearful of Ryan, but felt disgusted by the spitting.
Ryan later said he responded as he did because he thought he was about to be attacked.
In April, Ryan was in the Melbourne Assessment Prison when a search of his cell uncovered material he had written that was taken as child exploitation material.
Ryan became enraged and tried to get paperwork off a custodial officer, biting him twice on the wrist.
In interview, Ryan said he only bit the officer once because he put his hands around his throat, and insisted he was defending himself.
Five days later, Ryan was being moved from a holding cell back to his unit when he broke free and pushed an officer from behind into a laundry trolley.
The court heard Ryan was sentenced to his current two years of imprisonment because he failed to abide by obligations under the Sex Offenders Registration Act, with child exploitation material found in his caravan at Rushworth.
Defence lawyer Robert Timms said his client instructed he was defending himself in the first incident.
In regards to the biting incident, he said Ryan felt he was being strangled and was trying to free himself from the officer's arm around his neck.
Magistrate Michael King said he accepted there was a level of disruption and aberrant behaviour in a prison environment, but inmates had a right not to be exposed to violence.
"Certainly, custodial officers have a right to a safe working environment," Dr King said.
He sentenced Ryan to another four months' imprisonment, to be served cumulatively on his current sentence.
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