Douglas Henry Bower sentenced for spitting assault of Tamworth Correctional Centre officer during COVID-19 pandemic

Douglas Henry Bower, 53, was "coming down from drugs" in jail when he spat at the prison officer on September 11, the same day the city emerged from a five-week COVID-19 lockdown.

Magistrate Peter Thompson read the police facts in court and said Bower spat at the officer and there were words and actions too.

"I don't know what led to that but you can't behave in that way," Mr Thompson told Bower.

Bower appeared via video link for sentencing on Monday, after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of assaulting a Tamworth officer in the execution of duty.

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Aboriginal Legal Service defence solicitor Bridget Dawson said it was not a physical assault, but it did involve spitting.

She acknowledged it would have caused "a lot of harm" to the correctional officer involved and would have been particularly stressful due to the coronavirus situation at the time and not knowing whether they had been infected with the virus or any other illness.

Ms Dawson said Bower had only recently been taken into custody and was "coming down from drugs" when he spat at the officer. She said he lived with a health condition.

"He's really sorry for his actions," she told the court.

Mr Thompson handed Bower a four month jail term but explained that it would be "subsumed" by a longer prison sentence Bower is serving for an unrelated matter.

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