Serial Vic police attacker jailed

A Victorian man who once stabbed a police officer in the cheek has been jailed for pointing a sawn-off rifle at another.

Joshua Cannane, 26, grew up in the Children of God religious cult and carried weapons after he developed severe paranoia as an adult, a court heard.

He lost a bag of live ammunition and drugs at a shopping centre in February and police were called when it was handed to centre management.

The officers found Cannane and a co-offender in a car park but the two tried to flee in a van.

"I'm not going back to jail for four bullets, show me what you've got," Cannane told the officers.

He leaned over the driver's seat, grabbed a sawn-off rifle and pointed it at one of the officers before telling his co-offender to drive away.

Cannane was sentenced to two years' jail on Friday.

"This is the second occasion you have appeared in court in relation to serious attacks on police," Victorian County Court Judge Elizabeth Gaynor said.

"It's extremely concerning you have such a violent history."

The court heard Cannane carried weapons with him as an adult out of fear he would be attacked, a paranoia exacerbated by heavy cannabis use as a teenager.

"They are items you felt you had to have with you to protect yourself from imminent attack," Judge Gaynor said.

"You told me you had a very hard childhood when your parents were members of Children of God.

"As the years went by, you became increasingly paranoid and anxious."

The court heard Cannane had used drugs over several years, including cannabis, ice and heroin. He developed post-traumatic stress disorder after he was attacked with a machete and samurai sword.

The Ringwood man appeared in court in 2008 for slashing a person's face with a knife at a shopping centre and stabbing a police officer in the cheek in a bid to escape arrest.

Over his latest incident, Cannane pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and using it to resist arrest.

He must serve a minimum of 12 months' jail.