Abode Hotel shooter Kasey King's jail term extended over 'terrifying' attack, police pursuits

Kasey Tyson King, 22, was sentenced to an extra 10 months behind bars on Friday, when special magistrate Anthony Hopkins also extended his non-parole period by four months.

The Galambany Circle Sentencing Court, for Indigenous offenders, heard King was on a good behaviour order when, in July 2021, he kicked down his partner's door in Dunlop during a period of separation.

King grabbed his partner by the ankles and pulled her off a lounge, then punched and kicked her in the head.

He broke her television and phone before unplugging her PlayStation, which he left the house with.

The following month, the day after King had shot a man in a car park beneath the Abode Hotel in Belconnen, police spotted the 22-year-old behind the wheel of a stolen Ford Ranger in McKellar.

King sped away when police tried to stop the car leaving the area, almost running one officer over.

Dr Hopkins said a series of pursuits followed "all over parts of Canberra", as King drove on the wrong side of the road, mounted a footpath and sped through several suburbs.

The final chase ended across the NSW border in the Queanbeyan suburb of Karabar, where King stopped the Ranger and fled on foot before being chased down and arrested.

He was remanded in custody in Canberra and later charged in relation to the shooting, over which he appeared in the ACT Supreme Court last month.

Justice Michael Elkaim sentenced him to a backdated jail term of four years and eight months, with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.

That cleared the way for King to be sentenced in the Galambany court over the other incidents, which occurred during the good behaviour order imposed after he ripped a door off its hinges at his partner's home in January 2020.

In relation to all of those, he pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to stop for police, as well as single charges of aggravated dangerous driving, driving a stolen vehicle, property damage, burglary, theft and common assault.

He also admitted a breach of the ACT's lockdown laws on the date of the police chases.

On Friday, Dr Hopkins told King the attack on his partner "would have been terrifying" for the woman.

The magistrate added that he could tell from the way King spoke at a circle sentencing hearing in May that "this is something that gives you great shame".

"The offence can be seen as involving control and intimidation," he said.

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Dr Hopkins also noted that King's partner had described the offender, whose crimes stemmed from illicit substance use, as someone with "a big heart", who was "a different person when ... off the drugs".

The magistrate acknowledged that jail was "a hard place to heal that heart", but said time behind bars was the only appropriate penalty for the domestic violence and the "really serious example of dangerous driving".

The new sentences he ultimately imposed make King eligible for parole in June 2024.

Indigenous elder William Tompkins, who was involved in the circle sentencing, told King to "stay strong" and look to better himself by completing educational courses behind bars.

"You've got a lot of time to think about what you've done, but also show that you're willing to make up for what you've done," Mr Tompkins told King.

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