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Vic: Eleven years jail for man who shot police officer
By Nick Lenaghan
MELBOURNE, Aug 8 AAP - A Melbourne man who shot a policeman with his own revolver duringan attempted arrest and then fled to Queensland, was today jailed for 11 years.
In sentencing 31-year-old Jason Elliott, Supreme Court Judge Bernard Teague describedhis crimes as a "troubling mix of arrogance, foolhardiness and sheer stupidity".
The Supreme Court heard three police arrested Elliott at a suburban Carlton cafe onJanuary 4 last year on suspicion he had stolen a motorcycle.
Elliott resisted them in the laneway outside the Lygon Street cafe and during the strugglegrabbed a police revolver.
He fired it once, hitting a policeman in the elbow and then pointed it at the otherofficers, threatening to kill them.
Justice Teague said Elliott had cared little about the damage he might do to othersas he struggled to escape.
"If police were injured, that was just part of the price they had to pay for gettingin your way," the judge said.
"If people nearby were terrified, that was part of the price they had to pay for beingaround you when you wanted your way," he said.
The court heard Elliott, a cocaine user, then fled the area after taking another motorbikeat gunpoint from its owner.
He fled to Queensland with the help of a second man, 33-year-old Peter Comfort of Reservoir,who was also jailed today.
When Elliott returned to Victoria a few days after the incident, he was arrested by police.
Justice Teague said Elliott's "irresponsible acts" had caused serious damage to thelives of his victims, especially the shot policeman.
"Your crimes have shattered lives. Your crimes have left lasting physical and emotionalscars," the judge said.
After pleading guilty to 10 charges, including recklessly causing serious injury, Elliottwas jailed for 11 years.
Comfort, who pleaded guilty to assisting an offender avoid arrest was jailed for twoyears, with 20 months of the term suspended for two years.
AAP nl/szp/gfr/ak/de
KEYWORD: ELLIOTT
