news, crime, Christopher Pickard
A long-time heroin user went “berserk” over the weekend, smashing up an apartment and assaulting two police officers, prosecutors allege. Police attended Wendouree Court at Downer on Sunday morning after neighbours complained Christopher Ashley Pickard was smashing glass at a unit. They found all of the apartment’s windows shattered and a “significant” amount of broken glass, but Mr Pickard, 47, told officers he had permission to damage the unit. Documents tendered in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday said Mr Pickard asked officers to call the apartment’s legal tenant to verify as much. He said he was sub-letting the property, but police could not reach the tenant. The documents said police spoke to neighbours, who told them Mr Pickard had been attempting to kick in a door and screaming “he was going to kill a male named Danny”. They alleged officers informed Mr Pickard he was under arrest for breaching the peace, but he resisted them. “The defendant sat down on the couch in the unit and told police … that they would need to call the Belconnen homicide squad as he was going to kill them,” the documents said. The documents said officers tried to handcuff Mr Pickard inside a tent that took up most of the loungeroom, but he kicked out at them and later screamed “just f— off”. They alleged Mr Pickard bit one officer’s trousers and, when the officer told him not to, he responded: “I’ll f—ing eat your calf, c—.” In court on Monday, the 47-year-old did not enter pleas to four charges: two counts of resisting police and two counts of assaulting police. His Legal Aid lawyer Helen Hayunga argued he should be granted bail despite his “significant” history of offending, which she said had abated as he’d gotten older. Prosecutor Michael Gemmell warned Magistrate James Stewart that, if Mr Pickard was granted bail, he might seek retribution against witnesses to the Downer incident. Mr Stewart ultimately decided to refuse Mr Pickard bail. He noted there was a risk the 47-year-old would skip out on court, and said he’d told police in 2019 that he’d been a heroin user for 20 years. The magistrate remanded Mr Pickard in custody to appear in court again on March 2.
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A long-time heroin user went “berserk” over the weekend, smashing up an apartment and assaulting two police officers, prosecutors allege.
Police attended Wendouree Court at Downer on Sunday morning after neighbours complained Christopher Ashley Pickard was smashing glass at a unit.
They found all of the apartment’s windows shattered and a “significant” amount of broken glass, but Mr Pickard, 47, told officers he had permission to damage the unit.
Documents tendered in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday said Mr Pickard asked officers to call the apartment’s legal tenant to verify as much.
He said he was sub-letting the property, but police could not reach the tenant.
The documents said police spoke to neighbours, who told them Mr Pickard had been attempting to kick in a door and screaming “he was going to kill a male named Danny”.
They alleged officers informed Mr Pickard he was under arrest for breaching the peace, but he resisted them.
“The defendant sat down on the couch in the unit and told police … that they would need to call the Belconnen homicide squad as he was going to kill them,” the documents said.
The documents said officers tried to handcuff Mr Pickard inside a tent that took up most of the loungeroom, but he kicked out at them and later screamed “just f— off”.
They alleged Mr Pickard bit one officer’s trousers and, when the officer told him not to, he responded: “I’ll f—ing eat your calf, c—.”
In court on Monday, the 47-year-old did not enter pleas to four charges: two counts of resisting police and two counts of assaulting police.
His Legal Aid lawyer Helen Hayunga argued he should be granted bail despite his “significant” history of offending, which she said had abated as he’d gotten older.
Prosecutor Michael Gemmell warned Magistrate James Stewart that, if Mr Pickard was granted bail, he might seek retribution against witnesses to the Downer incident.
Mr Stewart ultimately decided to refuse Mr Pickard bail. He noted there was a risk the 47-year-old would skip out on court, and said he’d told police in 2019 that he’d been a heroin user for 20 years.
The magistrate remanded Mr Pickard in custody to appear in court again on March 2.
Wendouree Court at 41 Gardiner Street in Downer, where Christopher Pickard allegedly assaulted police. Picture: Google Maps
