A man serving a life sentence for two murders will not spend extra time in prison after admitting he assaulted a prison officer.
Scott Geoffrey Maygar, 37, faced Brisbane District Court on Monday for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to kicking an officer in the leg, causing pain but not bodily harm.
Maygar was sentenced in 2007 to life in prison with parole after 20 years for two counts of murder, one of manslaughter and four counts of rape after what prosecutors described as a horrific and bizarre incident in 2005 in a unit at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
A man and two teenage boys were killed and a young woman was raped by Maygar following a disagreement over obtaining weapons.
Maygar's parole eligibility period was later extended by six months after he knocked down a fellow prisoner and cut his neck with a handmade knife in July 2008 and he will currently be able to apply for release on December 1, 2035.
Crown prosecutor David Finch told the court on Monday that corrective services officers on August 9, 2019 observed Maygar preparing for an attempt to take his own life.
"In the course of restraining and removing him from his cell, he struggled against them (and) kicked out at one of the officers quite forcefully,” Mr Finch said.
Mr Finch said Maygar's parole eligibility date should be pushed back by between two and three months.
"There ought to be a tangible consequence to Mr Maygar for his conduct," Mr Finch said.
Maygar's barrister, Edwin Whitton said his client's offence was a minor example of assault that did not involve the risk of transmitting disease and resulting emotional trauma, such as spitting in an officer's face.
“In terms of consequences nothing can be done to or for Mr Maygar that is not already done to or for him, that is the sad reality of his circumstances," Mr Whitton said.
Judge Carl Heaton asked why the matter was not dealt with via the prison's internal disciplinary system.
Mr Whitton said Maygar had already been handed administrative punishment and the matter had gone to court because the victim wanted it to.
Judge Heaton said he understood the need to send a message to deter attacks on officers but he also had to take into account Maygar's mental health issues, including schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations, as well as his abusive childhood.
"Corrective services officers have a responsibility to ensure your safety and welfare, they were simply doing their job and in response you caused injury to one of them," Judge Heaton said.
Maygar was sentenced to six months' imprisonment to run concurrently with his prior life sentence and no change was made to his parole eligibility date.
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