A 40-year-old man who confessed to trashing his brother’s Werri Beach house during an alcohol-fuelled rampage just days into the new year had been kicked out of his parents’ home four months earlier for similar behaviour, a court has heard.
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Shannon Lee Finneran had been out of rehab for a little over two weeks when he got drunk at his parents’ Glenreagh home in September 2017 and began throwing household items around the granny flat.
His mother and father, both aged in their 70s, were so petrified of their son’s behaviour they fled the house, walking for 10 minutes through paddocks to an abandoned house where they waited for police. Both refused to return to the house until he was arrested.
Finneran was placed on an 18-month court bond after promising to behave himself in the future and he subsequently moved to his brother’s house in Werri Beach.
However that arrangement came to an abrupt end on January 4 when Finneran ransacked his brother’s house during a drunken tantrum.
Court documents reveal police were called to the Renfrew Road property after reports Finneran was threatening neighbours and damaging their property.
The neighbours told officers they heard yelling and banging coming from within the brother’s unit during the afternoon and around 5.30pm saw Finneran climb onto the roof of the home and throw household goods including a fly screen door onto the ground below.
Finneran then threatened to “bash” the neighbours when he saw they were watching him.
Officers who gained entry to the unit noted the upstairs rooms looked to have been totally ransacked.
Finneran was arrested and charged, while police notified his brother, who was in Queensland visiting relatives.
While in custody, Finneran threatened to shoot one of the police officers in the head, telling him “I will...hold a gun to the back of your head and bang”.
Finneran subsequently pleaded guilty to property damage and intimidation offences and was sentenced to five months behind bars.
He had been due to challenge the severity of the sentence in Wollongong District Court on Monday however withdrew his appeal at the last minute.
He will be released on parole on June 2.