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A CRIMINAL named after an alcoholic drink says he doesn’t have a problem with booze, despite being drunk during his latest offence. North Albury man Cham Payne, 21, has already amassed a 16-page criminal history in NSW despite his relatively young age. He recently fronted Albury Local Court after an incident earlier this year. Payne ran into a man and his mates at Jelbart Park about 10pm on February 7. The man’s phone fell to the ground and Payne picked it up. The victim asked for it back, but the 21-year-old refused to hand it over. The phone owner and his friends went looking to get it back off Payne, but police arrived and intervened. Payne was pointed out as having pinched the Oppo K7, but it wasn’t found. The victim applied for $480 in compensation from Payne to replace the mobile. The court was told Payne had been on bail for other offences when he stole the phone. He was sentenced to a year in jail for having a knife in a public place while awaiting sentence for the phone theft. The court heard the Centrelink recipient had been drinking before the phone theft, but doesn’t think he needs help for his alcohol consumption. He has mental health issues, including schizophrenia and bipolar, and wasn’t on his medication at the time of the offence. This, the court heard, was his real problem. Despite the offence being relatively minor, magistrate Michael Crompton said his priors meant he should spend time behind bars. “The difficulty is his criminal history, which doesn’t assist him, and I think that take it over the threshold (of jail time),” he said. Payne was jailed in 2015 for his role in a wild drunken rampage between two families in Jacaranda Street and Waratah Crescent. The then-18-year-old had armed himself with a large knife after smashing a man in the side of the head with a beer stubby. The impact had no effect, so Payne took out another beer and cracked the man in the skull again. The glass broke during the second blow and the impact knocked the victim unconscious. He was arrested by officers at gunpoint while holding the knife. Mr Crompton sentenced him to a month in jail for the phone theft during his appearance late last week. Payne had been charged with four offences, including robbery, affray and steal from person, but pleaded guilty to one county of larceny. He appeared in court in prison greens, sporting a tied back fluffy dark ponytail, and did not talk during the hearing. Payne will be eligible for parole next month, but he could be held in custody until as late as February.

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