Peter Douglas Dennis convicted after taking knife to a fight in shopping centre car park

Peter Douglas Dennis, 42, of Raines Place was given a community-based custodial sentence in Orange Local Court for his role in an affray in the Orange City Centre underground car park.

Dennis initially pleaded not guilty and spent eight-and-a-half months in jail as an unsentenced prisoner before he appeared via a video link in court on Thursday.

Solicitor Jo Collings said the co-accused, Dean Taylor, 42, of Kurim Avenue, instigated the fight by following Dennis into the car park.

According to information tendered to the court, Dennis and Taylor ran into each other at the methadone clinic in Kite Street about 10am on November 26.

It stated that Taylor got into a car outside the clinic and yelled out at Dennis as he walked to the car park across the road.

However, when Dennis and two people he was with got to the car park Taylor pulled up and got out of his car.

The two men got into a verbal altercation, Taylor produced a pole and Dennis produced the knife, and was heard yelling at Taylor while holding the knife over his head.

Dennis moved forward with the knife but moved back as Taylor swung the pole at him and struck Dennis on the arm three times.

The men both went to Orange Police Station where they got into another argument.

Magistrate David Day said Dennis had a much worse criminal record for violence than Taylor and took into account the time Dennis had spent in jail since he was refused bail in November.

Mr Day said that time in custody would have been more onerous since at least March due to steps taken as a precaution to manage COVID-19, including stopping contact visits with friends and family and reducing prisoner movements.

Mr Day gave Dennis seven months of community-based custody with supervision, rehabilitation and electronic monitoring with an ankle bracelet for the affray.

At the time of the affray, Dennis was subject to community-based custody until to March 2022 having been sentenced in Coonamble District Court for reckless wounding. It will be up to the state parole authority to determine whether he serves the rest of that sentence in jail or in the community.

Taylor was sentenced earlier for his role in the affray and was given 15 months of community-based custody.