NT: Petrol sniffer jailed for lack of better institution

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2001
NT: Petrol sniffer jailed for lack of better institution

A brain-damaged petrol sniffer was jailed today because a Darwin judge said a more
appropriate facility wasn't available in the Northern Territory.

33-year-old GEOFFREY WANAMBI pleaded guilty in the NT Supreme Court to savagely assaulting
two men who refused his requests for a cigarette.

The court heard that brain damage from sniffing petrol since he was 10-years-old had
resulted in unpredictable outbursts of violent behaviour.

Justice STEVEN BAILEY accepted that prison wasn't an ideal institution in which WANAMBI
could be treated.

But the judge sentenced him to three years because there was no other place for him
to be detained.

AAP RTV rmg/klw/pc

KEYWORD: WANAMBI (DARWIN)

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