Saturday, February 21, 2009

Beat it like a cop...

Criticisim of sentences for men who bashed police officers including Constable Shane Markham

WA Police Constable Shane Markham was bashed at a hotel in Meekatharra in 2006. (ABC: WA Police Union)

There has been condemnation of the jail sentences handed down to two men who bashed police officers during a pub brawl at Meekatharra two years ago.

Perth District Court Judge Kate O'Brien sentenced Peter Laylan, 52, to two and a half years jail for punching Constable Shane Markham in the mouth, knocking out a tooth, and pushing away a female police officer who tried to arrest him.

Laylan threw another female officer, Constable Christina Johnson, to the ground and held her down.

The officers had been trying to break up an drunken and unruly crowd which had gathered at the Meekatharra hotel following a funeral.

Laylan will serve 16 months in prison before being eligible for parole.

Judge O'Brien said Laylan's actions set the scene for 43-year-old Leonard Wells' cowardly attack on Constable Johnson.

Wells was jailed for four and a half years for kicking the officer as she lay on the ground, but will serve 18 months before being eligible for parole.

The Police Union's Mike Dean says the sentences are too lenient.

"These officers were flung around the room, beaten and kicked," he said.

The Opposition Leader Troy Buswell blames changes to sentencing laws introduced by the WA Government.

"Criminals such as these were automatically given a one third of their sentence discount by this government," he said.

The Police Minister John Kobelke has defended the Government's laws relating to police assaults.

He has told State Parliament that under new Legislation the men would have faced tougher penalties.

"This sentencing that took place today related to the old legislation which we inherited," he said.

"We have put in place tougher penalties so people convicted for offences that fall under the new legislation would receive far more severe penalties than these that were awarded by the court today."