by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A ice addict who furiously attacked a manager and a fellow resident at a Dandenong boarding house has been jailed.
Adam Jeffrey Tognolini, 47, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to rolled-up charges of aggravated burglary and causing injury recklessly.
One evening in March, the father-of-five attacked the resident in the hallway and after twice bursting into the resident’s room twice at the Hammond Street facility.
He unleashed a flurry of punches while holding him down by the throat on a bed.
Tognolini got aggressive with the manager, who had tried to defuse the situation.
As the manager called triple-0, Tognolini smacked the phone out of the manager’s hand and punched him in the mouth.
He later kicked in the first victim’s door and punched the resident again in the face.
Tognolini was arrested by police at the scene but not interviewed.
Sentencing judge Peter Lauritsen said on 26 September that Tognolini had been using ice heavily in the lead-up. And it went some way to explaining his attacks on the victims.
it was surprising the victims weren’t more seriously injured, Judge Lauritsen said.
The resident victim suffered lacerations and bleeding to his face, and a swollen, bruised lip. Neither victim submitted a victim impact statement.
Violence was a “significant element” in Tognolini’s criminal history, which spans 27 prior guilty findings in nearly 25 years.
He’d been convicted of assaults, threats to kill and assaulting police, but had never served jail time.
Diagnosed with a painful bowel condition and ADHD, he had heavily consumed booze, cannabis and meth as “self-medication” for decades.
His “reasonable” rehabilitiation prospects were limited by his substance addictions, the judge noted.
Tognolini was jailed for 10 months followed by a two-year community correction order. The CCO includes treatment for mental health and drug issues as well as supervision.
His term included 199 days in pre-sentence custody.
