A pair of prisoners have had significant time added to their non-parole periods for robbing a fellow inmate, who they left bleeding all over his cell when he resisted demands for his tobacco.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Tian-Jarrah Denniss and Manoa Chevalier were locked up in the same unit as their victim at Canberra's jail, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, when the incident occurred in December 2018.
On the day in question, the duo entered their victim's cell and Denniss demanded: "Give me all your smokes."
When the victim failed to comply, Denniss began punching and kicking him in the head, while Chevalier closed the cell door and took up a position as a "lookout".
The victim tried to escape from Denniss' reach but ended up trapped on his bed, calling out for guards to help him, as Chevalier approached and joined in the assault.
The man shouted at Denniss and Chevalier to "get off" and "piss off", but Denniss instead pulled the mattress away from the bed frame.
The victim fell to the floor, where the attackers continued to punch and kick his head, neck and abdomen.
Eventually, the victim told his assailants they would find his tobacco pouch, which was about one-quarter full, in his pillowcase.
Denniss took it but warned things were not over, telling the victim: "We know you've got more."
The victim was then told: "Have a shower and clean up the blood because we don't want to get into trouble. If we get into trouble over this, you will get stabbed."
Only a minute after the attackers had left the victim's cell, a guard spotted the victim sitting at his desk and shaking, with blood running from his head and neck.
There was also a pool of blood on the bed, and the victim told the correctional officer what had happened.
As a result of the assault, the victim sustained two lacerations that required suturing, as well as bruising, swelling and grazes on parts of his head and face.
Denniss and Chevalier were originally set to fight charges laid over the incident at trial, but in November they both pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery of the victim.
They appeared again in the ACT Supreme Court earlier this month, when they were each sentenced by Justice David Mossop to a maximum of three years in jail for the crime.
The judge also handed Denniss a jail term of one year for arson, after the 31-year-old lit a fire in his cell in January 2020.
Denniss' non-parole period, which had previously been due to expire in December this year, was extended by two years.
Sentencing remarks published this week show Chevalier's non-parole period had also been set to run out this coming December.
As a result of the jailhouse robbery, however, Justice Mossop added another 20 months, meaning the 32-year-old must now remain behind bars until at least August 2023.
Chevalier, a Fijian, will be taken to immigration detention and deported when he is eventually released from jail.
For faster access to the latest Canberra news, download The Canberra Times app for iOS and Android.
