13 hours ago
Man sentenced over random violent attack on mother in Adelaide CBD
A man who attacked a mother in the Adelaide CBD only a day after being released from hospital for the treatment of drug-induced psychosis has been sentenced to eight months in jail.
Scott Michael Antrobus, 38, was sentenced today for various offences including one count of assault causing harm over the attack in Rundle Mall on March 2 this year.
In sentencing, Magistrate John Clover said Antrobus attacked the "complete stranger", who was walking through Rundle Mall with her nine-year-old child, just after midday.
Magistrate Clover said members of the public intervened and restrained the 38-year-old until police arrived.
He said he then refused to provide his name and was found in possession of an ice pipe.
He said Antrobus had been released from the Royal Adelaide Hospital the day before the offending where he sought treatment for "drug-induced psychosis" before being released.
"In [the apology letter provided to the court] you described hearing voices on the day of the assault that told you to hurt people," Magistrate Clover said.
"However, that claim was abandoned in submissions [and] as is conceded by your guilty plea, you were mentally competent at the time of each offence."
Magistrate Clover said Antrobus's legal counsel previously told the court his "mental capacity to understand the nature and quality of [his] actions was not diminished", and that although his mental health conditions are relevant, they do not reduce his "moral culpability".
Magistrate Clover said he took the 38-year-old's criminal history and "traumatic childhood" into consideration, but said imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence.
"Your assault caused the victim physical and psychological pain.
"She suffered pain and a lump to the back of her head."
Magistrate Clover said the attack has also had a "negative impact" on the victim's daughter.
"Unprovoked and random assaults of this nature tend to undermine public confidence in the safety of areas such as Rundle Mall," he said.
He ordered Antrobus to serve eight months behind bars before being released on a bond to be of good behaviour for 18 months.
The sentence was backdated to when he was taken into custody on March 2, which means he will be released in November.
