Crossbow crim’s jail time
themercury.com.au
Court Reporter
A BRIDGEWATER criminal who once shot at a policewoman and made a high-profile jailbreak from Risdon Prison is back behind bars after pointing a loaded crossbow at two policemen.
The Supreme Court of Tasmania heard that seven police officers swarmed a Molesworth property in August 2018 after Rodney Gene Crosswell looted six guns from a Dysart firearms safe.
SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397
Crosswell, now 37, was armed with a crossbow that resembled a rifle with a stock-andtrigger mechanism and a long metal section that looked like a barrel.
While sentencing him on Wednesday, Chief Justice Alan Blow said police had surrounded the property, with one officer yelling out to “come out with your hands up”. He said officers could hear Crosswell’s partner screaming inside the house and thought she was in danger, but in fact she was worried her boyfriend “might get himself shot”.
Crosswell didn’t emerge from the house, but repeatedly said words to the effect of “come in and I’ll f...ing shoot you”.
“He did not have a firearm. He only had the crossbow. It was not capable of firing,” Chief Justice Blow said.
“However, it was a frightening-looking object. At first glance it could easily be mistaken for a rifle.”
During the incident, Crosswell pointed the crossbow in the direction of a sergeant and a senior constable and shouted threats at them.
“They had drawn their firearms. They each thought that they might be killed,” Chief Justice Blow said.
Crosswell was arrested after he moved out of sight and put down the weapon.
Two children were present in the house at the time.
The judge said Crosswell, a father of five, had more than 150 prior convictions.
He said in 2003, he was jailed for pointing a sawn-off rifle at a policeman and threatening to kill him, then shooting at – but not hitting – a female officer in 2010 as she tried to lay road spikes to stop his speeding vehicle.
While in jail for that incident, he briefly escaped from Risdon Prison by breaking through the roof of the Ron Barwick maximum security facility. “The two police officers were acting in the execution of their duty,” Chief Justice Blow said while sentencing Crosswell on Wednesday,
“There are times when police officers have to expose themselves to risks … the criminals who expose police officers to such risks must be severely punished.”
Crosswell, who was found guilty by a jury of one count of assaulting a police officer, was jailed for two years after a previous trial was abandoned in October last year.
He will be eligible for parole after serving 21 months.