By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A MAN and woman escaped conviction after pleading guilty to a drunken assault on two Protective Services Officers at Cranbourne railway station.
Harley Michael Langhans had grabbed a PSO in a headlock, causing the officer to become “short of breath” during the assault, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court was told on 4 July.
The intoxicated Langhans was sprayed with OC spray three times and struck with a baton in an attempt to subdue him and two other drunk co-accused.
“I was pretty smashed and probably beyond drunk,” he later told police after sobering up in Cranbourne police cells.
Co-accused Nicole Wettenhall also appeared in court for striking a PSO trying to arrest her boyfriend surnamed ‘Morgan’ – another co-accused whose case is yet to be heard.
Wettenhall struck the PSO multiple times to the neck and face with an open hand.
The three co-accused had been drinking together all day before the incident on 21 May.
About 6.45pm, Morgan and Langhans repeatedly pressed a train’s emergency intercom button as it approached Merinda Park station.
After being warned by the station’s PSO about their behaviour, the three were allowed to continue travelling on the train to Cranbourne.
In full view of passengers, Morgan pulled down his pants and exposed his testicles to the PSO – who reported him to colleagues at Cranbourne station.
When approached by two other PSOs at Cranbourne, Morgan refused a direction to stop walking away and pushed aside one of the officers.
Langhans and Wettenhall respectively put on a headlock and struck the officer as he tried to arrest Morgan.
After being OC sprayed, the three drunks got in a fighting stance with the two PSOs.
Langhans pushed away the hand of a PSO wielding a baton, and was sprayed a second time.
Wettenhall and Morgan did a runner, helped by a block from Langhans who was sprayed a third time and struck to the leg with a baton.
Police, who had then just arrived at the scene, chased and restrained the two escapees. Morgan told police to “f*** off her, you f***ing wankers” as Wettenhall was handcuffed.
One of the PSOs received scratches to his neck, ears and arm, and was taken off operational duties for two weeks as a result of a back injury sustained during the assault.
The other PSO had swelling to his neck and scratches to his face.
After hearing the case summary, magistrate Pauline Spencer asked Langhans if that was all he could remember from the incident.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Langhans said. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. It won’t happen again.
“I had a few too many. I wasn’t counting … It was a few.”
Ms Spencer asked Langhans what was a “safe drinking level”.
“I wouldn’t know,” the accused replied.
In a police interview, Wettenhall originally denied assaulting or hindering the PSOs .
She told the court she had been upset after being pushed into a fence and getting pepper sprayed for the first time in her life.
“I ran because I was scared.”
Ms Spencer noted Langhans and Wettenhall had no prior convictions, and Morgan seemed to have been the instigator of the trouble.
The pair received 12-month good behaviour bonds and ordered to donate $800 each to the Blue Ribbon Foundation.
