By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A relapsed ice-user, who had just been through detox, has caused his father to flee his own Tooradin home in fear, a court has heard.
The 29-year-old man was in breach of an intervention order that banned him from using drugs or being affected by drugs at the home.
He’d first tried ice in April, falling into regular use of up to 1 point every two days.
Since May, he had been to at least two clinics to rid himself from addiction.
On the afternoon of 12 September, his father fled the house after being confronted by his “violent and aggressive” son who up-ended a coffee table and said he wanted to be shot by police.
The man was later found by police asleep on a couch inside the home.
He told police he’d been coming down from taking ice two days earlier.
He was also taking an increasing prescribed dosage of anxiety and depression medication that wasn’t benefiting him, his lawyer told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 25 September.
The lawyer said the accused had just completed a detox program days before the incident.
“He’s going through a lot of steps to rehabilitate, to detox and get his life on track,” the lawyer said.
“Temptation got the better of him.”
The man, a qualified carpenter, hadn’t worked since his first month of ice use.
When clean, he was welcome to eventually work for his father’s business, the lawyer said.
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell said the man had “all the makings” of a treatment-only community corrections order.
He was spared conviction due to having no prior offences, but told re-breaching the intervention order would risk a jail term.
“Treat (the CCO) as if I sentenced you to jail in the community,” Ms O’Donnell advised the man.
