Anti-lockdown protester who hurled PEPPER into a police officer's face during violent Sydney rally gives bizarre excuse for his antics - after boasting about wanting to STAB a female cop
An elderly man who threw pepper in a riot officer's face at a lockdown protest and screamed 'if I had a knife I would stab her' while in custody has avoided jail, before claiming he had no idea the rally was even being held.
Ronald McLean, 69, was at the infamous 'Rally 4 Freedom' in Sydney's CBD on July 24 where he was arrested after hurling the spicy handful.
According to police, McLean then shouted at a female officer: 'If I had a knife I would have stabbed her, I don't give a f**k what they say.'
Magistrate Jennifer Giles said though the facts were 'disturbing', she spared him prison despite a guilty plea to all three charges including assaulting police.
Ronald McLean, 69, (pictured outside court on Tuesday) was at the infamous 'Rally 4 Freedom' in Sydney's CBD on July 24 where he was arrested after hurling pepper at a police officer
The anti-lockdown rallies that were staged across Australia and became potential super-spreader events had been planned on social media for weeks by conspiracy theorists (pictured, a protestor is tackled into a garden bed during demonstration in Sydney)
When confronted by reporters outside court on Tuesday, he claimed to have 'not been out of his house on months' and 'didn't even know the protest was on' because he doesn't own a phone or a smart TV.
'At this time the police are hanging on by their fingernails – shame on you, you have the condemnation and the denunciation of the entirety of the state against you,' she told Downing Centre Local Court, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The 69-year-old claimed he was walking down a road in Camperdown when he saw the rally and decided to join rather than having any pre-conceived notion of supporting the movement.
Agreed police facts instead state McLean was on his way to Wollongong on his motorcycle before he was turned around by officers for breaking his 10km radius.
It was after that McLean decided to join the protests.
After throwing the pepper in the face of the officer, causing burning in their eyes and mouth, he was arrested and charged with assaulting police, refusing to comply with police and failing to comply with Covid-19 public health orders.
Police had been monitoring encrypted messaging platform Telegram as early as May before the protests erupted in Sydney
'When you attack a police officer, I'm afraid that encourages other people to do so as well,' Magistrate Giles said in court.
Despite recognising his actions warranted prison time, the magistrate spared McLean jail and sentenced him to 12 months prison to be served in the community as well as an intensive corrections order.
He was also handed another five month intensive corrections order for attending the protest, ordered to undergo supervision with Burwood Community Corrections, and fined $200.
'It cannot have escaped you that we are in the midst of a pandemic – it's a national emergency,' Ms Giles told McLean, who represented himself in court.
'Everyone's got to pull their weight and when people have like you did the social fabric starts to fall apart.'
Agreed police facts instead state McLean was on his way to Wollongong on his motorcycle before he was turned around by officers for breaking his 10km radius. It was after that McLean decided to join the protests