Charlotte Varcoe
THERE have been fresh calls for harsher punishments to be handed down by South Australian judges, after a knife-wielding 19-year-old was allowed to walk free.
Seth Williams pleaded guilty to six different counts including aggravated affray and aggravated assault with a weapon after a brutal attack on a Mount Gambier/Berrin resident at Jens Hotel in April.
Mr Williams also pleaded guilty to breaching a good behaviour bond from a previous offence.
He was charged just months before with possession of an offensive weapon.
Appearing in Mount Gambier Magistrates Court, Mr Williams was sentenced to three months and 10 days in prison which was suspended with an 18-month good behaviour bond fixed at $500.
Jen’s Hotel owner and operator Aaron Davies has since expressed his disappointment and frustration with the sentencing, calling for the judiciary system to be overhauled.
Mr Davies said his bar staff at the hotel were left shaken by the incident.
Speaking on the sentencing of Mr Williams – with it being so soon after his first offence of a similar nature – Mr Davies said he was disappointed.
“The police are doing all this amazing hard work and they are arresting people for doing crimes but the court system is not working.”
He believed Mr Williams deserved a harsher punishment.
“We live in a great town down here,” Mr Davies said.
“We are not Melbourne, we are not Sydney or Brisbane, we are actually Mount Gambier and someone brandishing their knife is obviously a pretty big thing.
“I believe jail time definitely should have happened for this young man as he already had a knife before in Adelaide.
“I have read he felt threatened going out in Mount Gambier and that was why he went and got his knife but I don’t think Mount Gambier needs anything like that because when you go out it is a very safe place.”
With Mr Davies working in pubs since he was 18, he said safety in venues had gotten better with time.
“Obviously there are still little incidents that will happen some weekends but the fighting is not as big as what it was years ago,” he said.
“There were always a lot more things happening in hotels then compared to these days.”
Mr Davies called for tougher legislation to be implemented for re-offenders.
“You have all these poor police officers, ambulance officers and all these people bursting at the seams and they are real troopers,” he said.
“They are out here doing everything right and then those who should be the strongest people – the judges – are knocking things over and these troopers are out there catching people but the judges need to start putting them away.”
