THE man falsely accused of the shooting of a Tamworth police officer has been jailed after he was caught with a knife in public on two occasions.
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Terrence James Price’s history is littered with knife-related offences, the most serious a manslaughter conviction after a stabbing death in 2003.
The 41-year-old spent eight years behind bars after pleading guilty to stabbing a drug dealer, but he made headlines in 2012 after he was arrested in connection to the murder of Senior Constable David Rixon.
Now convicted cop-killer Michael Allan Jacobs named Price as the person who shot the highway patrol officer; however, he was cleared shortly after.
Price will now spend close to a year in jail after he was convicted of carrying a knife illegally across Tamworth streets twice this year.
Price fronted Tamworth Local Court this week and pleaded guilty before the court heard he had six similar convictions to his name.
“You are a recidivist,” Magistrate Roger Prowse said in sentencing.
“There is little prospect of you changing your ways.”
Price was found with a 30cm knife on April 26 in South Tamworth after officers noticed he was “highly agitated and restless”.
When they stopped and asked if he had anything on him he shouldn’t have, Price told officers, “Yeah, I got a knife”.
Then on June 14, highway patrol officers spotted Price walking along Gunnedah Rd before he tossed something on the ground.
Officers found a large kitchen knife at the scene and cautioned the suspect, who admitted tossing the weapon.
According to court documents, Price told officers, “I carry the knife with me every day since I got out of jail.”
Price’s solicitor Matt Kwan asked for a fine and told the court his client was seeking to undergo drug and alcohol counselling for his addictions.
“None of these offences can be considered serious in any stretch of the imagination,” he said.
“Some sort of financial penalty would cause Mr Price to think twice.”
But Mr Prowse rejected the argument, telling the court there was a two-year maximum penalty set by parliament.
Mr Kwan submitted his client admitted he “probably shouldn’t have had it” but to impose a sentence would be “completely inappropriate”.
“No one would have noticed that he had a knife if the police didn’t stop him,” he argued.
Mr Prowse said there was no other option because Price had the propensity to commit further offences.
“A suspended sentence in these circumstances would be like getting flogged with a piece of warm lettuce,” he said.
Price was jailed for six months on one offence, with seven months on the second count to start from January 22.
He will be eligible for parole in May next year.
Price was also convicted of possessing about $20 worth of cannabis.