Glen Brett Calyun: 11-month jail term after assault on sleeping person at Geraldton Hotel, Lemongrass burglary

A 20-year-old man has been jailed for almost a year for a burglary at a Geraldton restaurant and assaulting a person asleep at the front of a pub with a juvenile co-accused. Glen Brett Calyun, 20, appeared in Geraldton Magistrates Court from custody for sentencing this week after he was arrested at the scene of a horrific assault on a highly intoxicated person sitting by the Geraldton Hotel in February. On Saturday, February 18, Calyun broke into the Lemongrass restaurant with a juvenile co-accused about 2am, rummaging through the restaurant and stealing money bags of dollar coins and $138. Following the burglary, Calyun and the co-accused walked towards the Geraldton Hotel where they approached the highly intoxicated victim, kicking and punching them in the head multiple times. Geraldton police witnessed the crime on City CCTV cameras and arrested Calyun nearby. Defence lawyer Fintan Roberts told the court Calyun said the attack wasn’t completely unprovoked and that the complainant was awake and slurred a racist remark. Mr Roberts said Calyun had a lot of time to think about his actions while in custody and would deal with those situations better in the future. He said Calyun had a lot going on in his personal life with relatives recently dying. Police prosecutor Sgt Ross Gray said the CCTV footage showed the attack was unprovoked and the victim was asleep, totally rejecting any claims it was provoked. “It could have been a lot worse if police didn’t see it on camera,” he said. Magistrate Angus Hockton said because Calyun co-operated and saved the court having to go to trial with an early guilty plea his sentence would be discounted. “Even if something was said, the action was disproportionate,” he said. “When you chose to enter a premises and behave in this way . . . it causes a significant disruption to the business community.” Calyun was sentenced to a jail term of 11 months and 15 days, and was made eligible for parole.