Suspended sentence for chainsaw chase
Posted
A Burnie man has been given a suspended sentence for chasing another man with an active chainsaw.
Christopher Lyndsay Sullivan had pleaded not guilty in the Burnie Supreme Court to four charges of assault, but was convicted on one count.
Sullivan left a party drunk one night, and went to Jamie Webster's house in Shorewell with a chainsaw.
The two men had a history of bad blood.
Webster and his partner were smoking on the doorstep, when Sullivan walked up and started revving the chainsaw.
When Webster yelled at him, Sullivan approached and started waving the chainsaw and chasing him until Webster grabbed a golf club and retaliated.
Justice Shan Tennant said while the threatening behaviour was an assault, Webster's fear must have been short-lived.
She gave Sullivan a four-month suspended sentence, and 110 hours of community service.
A jury acquitted him on three other assault charges, including allegations that he struck two people with the chainsaw.
