A MAN has been given an 18-month suspended sentence for throwing a pot plant at a shop worker.
Patrick James Lawler plead guilty to a common assault charge at Fremantle Magistrates court today .
On February 9 Mr Lawler, accompanied by a female, began sitting in a shopping trolley and was being pushed around when the 56-year-old shop worker asked him to get out of the trolley.
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READ NOWThe pair started verbally abusing the victim and was subsequently asked to leave.
He then threw a potted fig tree at the victim and left the store.
The lawyer representing Mr Lawler said he had just attended the funeral of his younger brother and had consumed alcohol when he went into the shopping centre.
Magistrate Steven Malley said he was behaving like an idiot.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said.
“You are a millimetre away from going to prison.”