I'm a Black man living in Sydney, NSW. I am diagnosed with depression, anxiety and psychosis. I was intoxicated one day at the train station and was greeting almost everyone I came across. I met two young ladies and greeted them and shook the hand of the first lady and held it for a few seconds. I then touched the second lady on the shoulder. To my surprise, the first lady called the police and alleged that I grabbed the second lady on her buttocks. The police came and arrested me and quickly charged me with two counts of Common Assault and one count of Sexual Touching. Luckily, there was very clear CCTV footage of the incident and it was confirmed that I only touched the second lady on the shoulder. So sexual touching charges were quickly dropped. Before court, I was as usual encouraged to plead guilty so as to get a 15% discount. The magistrate disregarded my early guilty plea and sentenced me to a total of 18 months in prison for the two common assaults. My lawyer was extremely shocked. In jail, I met many people who were serving less than 6 months for very serious and violent incidents including stabbings, armed robberies and assaults occasioning bodily harm. My question is, is such an occurrence and sentence normal in Australia?
Last edited: