Offender breached terms of sentence

A YOUNG man who was previously dealt with for sexually assaulting a backpacker in an alleyway metres from her hostel has learned the consequences of continuing to offend while on a suspended sentence.

Roy Herbie Lex Hobbler, now 21, was sentenced in the Cairns District Court on December 2, 2020, after a “revolting” incident where he pursued a 23-year-old woman along Edith St in Innisfail after she had left a local nightclub, pulling her into an alcove beside the Budget Backpackers Hostel where she was staying and sexually assaulting her.

Hobbler received a twoyear sentence, suspended after serving 10 months, with an operational period of three years.

But he breached his suspended sentence 10 times between September 2021 and March 2022 with low-level offending, including entering a premises and committing an indictable offence, unlawful use of motor vehicle (as a passenger), possessing drug utensils and not complying with a noise abatement order.

Crown prosecutor Lauren Hall told the court Hobbler had failed to demonstrate any positive steps toward rehabilitation, had a superficial response to supervision, and a disregard toward authority.

Defence barrister Tim Grau said intoxication was a feature of his client’s offending, but all the breaches were “relatively minor by comparison to the original offending”.

“He recognises that he was drunk and stupid for the majority of this offending. He has expressed a desire for me to indicate his remorse and sorrow for doing those things,” Mr Grau said.

Judge Ian Dearden said it would be unjust for Hobbler to serve the whole of his remaining sentence, ordering him to serve another four months imprisonment, with 57 days declared as time served.