A teenager will avoid spending more time behind bars after he choked a woman, then tried to grab a gun from a police officer while being arrested.
Domanic Christian Assogna, 19, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court for sentence on Tuesday after pleading guilty to six charges. They included choking, suffocating or strangling another person, and intimidating a public official.
Documents tendered to the court say police were called to an incident in Canberra's south on November 30 last year after reports Assogna had choked a woman and was threatening her.
Assogna had placed both his hands around the woman's neck and squeezed, in an incident that caused the woman to fear for her life before she managed to fight Assogna off.
When police arrived at the scene and tried to speak to the victim, they found Assogna in "a highly aggressive state".
He began pushing police officers, and threatening to take their guns and shoot them.
Officers pulled Assogna to the ground, where he unsuccessfully reached for one of their guns and tried to grab the weapon from its holster.
He then continually kicked and damaged a police vehicle while inside it on en route to Tuggeranong Police Station.
He also broke the handcuffs he had been placed in by smashing them against a cell window at the station, requiring firefighters to cut him free once he had been taken to the ACT Watch House.
While at the watch house, he reiterated his intention to get his hands on a police gun.
During subsequent periods on bail, Assogna illegally possessed cannabis and drove while his licence was suspended.
In court on Tuesday, Assogna's lawyer Taden Kelliher said the choking incident was not the most serious example of such an offence.
Mr Kelliher noted that police and paramedics did not find any visible injuries on the victim's neck.
But Assogna cut across his lawyer to tell the court that regardless, the incident should not have happened.
Mr Kelliher said Assogna had no previous criminal history. He said the teenager, while unemployed, was working on qualifications in the hope of getting a job in construction.
Magistrate James Lawton said Assogna had spent 53 days in custody on remand, which would have been a wake-up call for a teenager with no prior record.
Mr Lawton handed Assogna 12-month good behaviour orders for the choking offence and intimidating police.
The magistrate also fined Assogna a total of $250 for the damage done to police property.
He dismissed the cannabis and driving charges, finding no further action necessary.
Mr Lawton noted that Assogna's troubles seemed to stem from drug use.
He offered the teenager some "free advice", telling him: "If you stay away from drugs, you'll stay away from the courts."
