Ashlee Vito, of Kokoda Street, appeared in Orange Local Court on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

The 21-year-old was was in custody and spent his appearance in the courtroom dock.

He was charged with a string of offences including throwing a brick through a window, assaulting and hindering police and drug possession.

According to court documents, Vito was a passenger in a vehicle that stopped in the McDonald's car park at Bathurst at 1.34am on November 24, 2023.

Police had been following the vehicle after receiving information a wanted offender was travelling in the vehicle.

Police approached the vehicle where Vito was in the passenger seat and another male, who police believed was the wanted person, was hiding under blankets, pillows and swag in the rear passenger's side seat.

This male had the hood of his jumper pulled very tight so police could only see a small area of his face.

However, when police located the person hiding in the back, Vito stood up and pushed a senior constable away.

The police officer pushed him back into the car and Vito punched him in the left side of his jaw and left arm five or six times.

The victim held the accused back with his left hand before delivering a two-second burst of capsicum spray to Vito's face.

Assisting police covered Vito with a taser but he attempted to get out of the car, so he was sprayed again.

At that point Vito raised both hands above his head. He was told to lay face-down on the ground, which he did, before being handcuffed and arrested.

While talking to the police he said there was a small amount of cannabis in a cigarette pack in the car door. Police found the cannabis, which weighed 4.97 grams.

Vito was taken to Bathurst Police Station.

At the time Vito was already facing a property damage charge and an intimidation charge after smashing the front window of a house with a brick before returning two more times and yelling threats in Orange on August 21, 2023.

Vito got in trouble again a month after he assaulted the police officer at Bathurst.

He had been granted bail on December 13, 2023, with the condition he commit no further offences, but he breached that bail twice on December 31.

At 3.48am Vito was captured on CCTV at the BP petrol station on Summer Street using a stolen bank card.

He used the stolen card to buy $32.50 worth of cigarettes and $3.50 for a lighter.

The card had been in a wallet that was stolen from a vehicle parked on Dalton Street that night.

At 4.30am that same morning he stole $50.06 worth of petrol from a Caltex service station at Hanrahan Place.

According to court documents he was a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle stolen from Anson Street overnight between December 28 and 29, 2023.

On December 31, 2023 the Caltex CCTV showed him getting out of the vehicle and pumping the fuel into it.

However, near the end of filling the car an unknown passenger opened the back passenger door for him and he replaced the nozzle and dived head first back into the vehicle which drove away.

That afternoon police attended the petrol station and obtained a witness statement and CCTV.

Officers arrested Vito following a short foot pursuit the next evening.

About 8.20pm on January 1, 2024 police saw Vito in the front yard of a property at Orchard Grove Road. He appeared to notice the police vehicle and quickly went inside. Police followed him and he ran from the premises into the backyard.

Vito jumped a back fence and ran onto Davidson Court, South Terrace then down a lane onto Leura Road. Police pursued him to Nyrang Road towards Goorawin Road.

Police caught and arrested him at the intersection of Nyrang Road and Goorawin Road.

He was taken to Orange Police Station and in an interview he claimed he did not know the vehicle was stolen and refused to answer further questions.

He was released from custody again but on January 10, 2024, police officers went to his home after discovering his use of the stolen bank card.

He admitted to using someone else's card to buy cigarettes and a lighter.

He said he was given the card by people he was committing "badness" with and suspected it might have been stolen but did not know for sure.

Vito has been held in custody and refused bail since January 11, 2024.

Solicitor Andrew Rolfe said Vito has been involved with criminal justice system for two years.

"He didn't have a father figure in his life," Mr Rolfe said.

"His father spent most of Mr Vito's life in custody and was then deported from Australia about 12 years ago."

However, he said Vito does not want to follow in his father's footsteps and get caught up in the jail cycle.

"He accepts that his criminal behaviour is unacceptable," Mr Rolfe said.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Riley said it was rare in assault police cases to have a person punch a police officer in the jaw, let alone five to six times.

Magistrate David Day said the assault on the police officer was the most serious.

"Assault police, it's such a serious matter that a jail sentence is recorded, it will be a jail sentence of nine months," Mr Day said.

"At the relevant time Mr Vito was on bail."

For assaulting the police officer Vito was given the nine-month full-time jail sentence with a four-month non-parole period.

He was also given a two-year community corrections order for hindering police when they went to arrest the suspected wanted male.

He was also given a concurrent 18-month CCO for the property damage and a 12-month CCO for the intimidation.

Vito was given a 12-month CCO requiring supervision and treatment for stealing the petrol and was ordered to repay $50.06 to the petrol station.

For using the stolen bank card he was given a six-month CCO.

For possession of the cannabis leaf he was convicted without further penalty.

All CCOs will run at the same time.

Vito has launched a severity appeal application, however Mr Day refused to grant him bail on the day of sentencing.

His appeal is to be heard in the District Court at a future date.