A POLICEMAN bitten by a hepatitis-infected man and forced to wait two months for the all-clear was glad to hear his attacker was jailed for six months yesterday.
Cairns-based Constable Liam Daley, 30, who was attacked while chasing up an outstanding warrant during a week helping out in the Cape York community of Mapoon in July last year, described the attack as "part of the job".
"At the end of the day it's what we face every day," he said.
Charlie Anthony Bond, 26, was sentenced to six months' jail yesterday for five counts of serious assault on Constable Daley. Cairns District Court heard Bond had barged out the back door of his Mapoon home when Constable Daley arrived to arrest him, punching the officer in the mouth with a clenched fist, causing swelling and bleeding.
During the ensuing struggle, Bond bit Constable Daley on the right index finger, drawing blood, then ran off into the scrub down a bush track.
As Constable Daley chased him and called for him to stop, Bond threw a large rock, narrowly missing the officer's head.
Crown prosecutor Brendan Manttan said Bond then picked up a 1.5m tree branch and held it up in a threatening manner "like a baseball bat" as he approached the officer.
Despite being sprayed in the face with capsicum spray, Mr Manttan said Bond swung the branch, hitting Constable Daley on the left shoulder so hard the branch snapped.
He said the spray had to be used twice more before Bond was able to be restrained.
Judge William Everson said it was particularly "abhorrent" that Bond bit the officer when he had a communicable disease, forcing the constable and his girlfriend to wait for two months to learn if they had contracted hepatitis A or hepatitis C.
"As far as resisting police officers, it doesn't get much worse than this," Judge Everson said.
The court heard Bond had a troubled upbringing after his mother died when he was 10, then his grandmother a year later.
But after the birth of his first child two months ago he was eager to turn his life around, and was already doing voluntary work with young petrol-sniffers in the community.
