A petty thief has been jailed for 21 months after blasting a fire extinguisher into the face of a security officer who had tried to stop his escape.
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Luke John Bramley faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a string of driving and theft offences as well as the serious assault.
In January 2020 he walked from the city's David Jones store without paying for stock and was promptly pursued by the security officer.
The 34-year-old fled, climbing onto a nearby apartment balcony before running through the apartment and into the lift.
He was eventually cornered in the lobby by the security officer, who was blocking his exit through the glass doors.
Bramley then grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and blasted it into the face of the security officer from about 30 centimetres away.
He dropped to the ground in pain and was struggling to breathe while Bramley made his escape.
The man suffered chemical burns to his right eye that threatened to blind him permanently.
The aspiring police officer failed the police entrance exam because of the injury and lived for weeks not knowing whether it would ever heal.
He gave a victim impact statement but Magistrate Louise Taylor said she did not need one to know it "would be an extremely painful and traumatic experience".
A charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm against Bramley was eventually downgraded when the injury to the guard's eye healed.
His lawyer said Bramley had no idea the fire extinguisher had such dangerous chemicals in it and had only intended to use it as a "smokescreen" to escape.
Ms Taylor jailed Bramley, who has a lengthy criminal history, for a total of 21 months, setting a non-parole term of 13 months.
The sentence included the injury caused by the fire extinguisher as well as a string of driving offences and the theft of cigarettes, alcohol and groceries, for which he was also fined $1780.
With time already served since his arrest in January 2020, Bramley was immediately eligible to apply for parole.
However the process for parole takes two months, a situation the magistrate described as "outrageous" but not one she could take into account in sentencing.
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