Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has lodged an appeal against a magistrate's decision not to jail a man who attacked a paramedic while in a "psychotic state" after taking a cocktail of drugs.
James Haberfield was last month sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order for his attack on two paramedics in Melbourne.
He also became the first person to be slapped with a compulsory treatment order under new Victorian laws for those who attack emergency workers.
But Haberfield, 22, avoided a minimum six-month jail term also included in the new laws, which came into effect last October.
In sentencing, Magistrate Simon Zebrowski had said jailing Haberfield would have a "disproportionate and catastrophic effect" on his future.
A psychiatric expert had told the court Haberfield would be at "acute risk" of suicide in jail.
The non-custodial sentence drew criticism from emergency service workers including one of Haberfield's victims, who wished to be named only as Monica, who cried in court when the sentence was delivered.
The court heard Monica had not returned to work since the attack and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
On Tuesday, Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC revealed she had lodged an appeal against the sentence, a move urged by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews last month.
In a statement, the DPP said it had appealed the sentence in the County Court on the grounds that based on Magistrate Zebrowski's findings, "it was not open to the Magistrate to impose any sentence other than a custodial sentence" as required under the Sentencing Act.
The Victorian Ambulance Union's general secretary, Danny Hill, said he was pleased the appeal had been lodged.
"Paramedics and ambulance workers are waiting for the courts to have their back and send a strong message of deterrence to the community that bashing and injuring an ambo is unacceptable," Mr Hill said.
AAP/ABC
