Kojonup man told he will serve time behind bars after armed stand-off with police

A Kojonup man has been told he will serve time behind bars after a tense 15-minute armed stand-off with police that ended in him being tasered. Police were called to Jeremiah Hakopa Walter Watene’s home on May 24 after he poured petrol around the house with his estranged partner inside, the Albany Magistrate’s Court was told last Thursday. Police prosecutor Sergeant Alan Dean said “one could only imagine” what has going through the head of Wantene’s victim after he told her the home would go up in flames. Before pouring the petrol, Watene had kicked on doors and windows of the home while demanding to be let into the property about 6pm. When police arrived, Watene was armed with a kitchen knife in one hand and a sharpened one metre pole in the other. Police had a 15 minute stand-off with the man before he was convinced to drop the weapons. When told he was going to be arrested, Watene became aggressive. After being hit with pepper spray, Watene moved to pick up the sharpened pole but was tasered by police. Sgt Dean told the court Watene then apologised to officers, telling them, “yeah, sorry about that, my fault”. “I’m at a loss to what was going through the victim’s mind,” Sgt Dean told Magistrate Raelene Johnston while arguing for an immediate term of imprisonment. “There’s no way this offence can be explained or mitigated in any way.” Ms Johnston agreed with the prosecution’s submissions. “You’re going to serve a term of imprisonment, it’s just a matter of how long,” Ms Johnston told Watene, who was appearing in court via video link from the Albany Regional Prison. A psychiatric report was ordered for Watene, who will be sentenced at a later date after pleading guilty to threatening to kill, obstructing police and possessing the weapons with intent to cause fear.