Prisoner throws urine on inmate

A PRISONER who threw urine at another inmate has been sentenced to one month in jail.

Erich Leonard Ungerhofer, 22, pleaded guilty in the Hobart Magistrates Court yesterday to one count of common assault.

The court heard Ungerhofer was in an exercise yard at Risdon Prison on October 19 last year when he started a conversation with another prisoner in an adjacent exercise yard.

The two men were separated by wire.

Chief Magistrate Catherine Geason said Ungerhofer had urinated into a cup and threw the urine at the other inmate.

Ungerhofer’s lawyer Fabiano Cangelosi told the court his client suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and he had difficulty concentrating.

Mr Cangelosi said Ungerhofer was acting out of “frustration and boredom” when he committed the assault.

“The was no real motive behind it,” Mr Cangelosi said.

“Were he in the community he would not be tipping cups of urine on people.”

Ungerhofer has been in Risdon Prison since December 21, 2016. He was last month sentenced to 18 months in jail over two rampages he went on while incarcerated that left a combined damage bill of tens of thousands of dollars.

Ms Geason said assaults in prison needed to be treated seriously, whether they were assaults on officers or on other inmates.

She sentenced Ungerhofer to one month in prison, to be served concurrently with the 18-month sentence he is already serving.

The magistrate also ordered Ungerhofer to pay court costs of $65.10 and a $20 victims of crime levy upon his release.