Four men sentenced over Bramston Beach shooting

Ablaze of gunfire in the early hours of a September morning shattered the tranquillity at a deserted park in Bramston Beach. Exactly what happened has been revealed in a Cairns court.

A blaze of gunfire in the early hours of a September morning shattered the tranquillity at a deserted park in Bramston Beach, a Cairns court has heard.

The incident had the hallmarks of “vigilante justice”, Cairns District Court was told, and five of the men involved were sentenced on Tuesday for their part in it.

The court was told seven men arrived at the park in Bramston Beach on September 19, 2020, armed with weapons including baseball bats and a .22 bolt-action rim-fire rifle.

In the confrontation that followed, one of the defendants was shot through the shin. The court heard the group left for Cairns Hospital.

Jesse Noel Martin, 27, Brody Dwayne Martin, 30, Brendan James Levis, 28, and Joshua Robert McDonald, 39, appeared in court over the incident.

Brody Martin, Brendan Levis and Jesse Martin leave the Cairns District Court after pleading guilty to going in the with intent to intimidate and threatened to enter a dwelling. Picture: Brendan Radke

The four men each pleaded guilty to going in the night with intent to intimidate and threaten to enter a dwelling, as well as a variety of other offences.

The court heard the men’s visit to the park was retribution for a violent incident in Innisfail four weeks previously, on August 15, 2020, when a man named Maurice Skilton and others allegedly assaulted Brendan Levis.

Defence counsel Michael Dalton told the court underpinning the incident was “the significant violence used by Mr Skilton and the perception of police inaction, which drove them to take action at Bramston Beach”.

James Sheridan, defence counsel for Brendan Levis, told the court Levis “was subject of a significant assault by Skilton and others”.

He called that a “prolonged assault from multiple assailants” that resulted in many injuries to Levis including a broken nose.

Defence counsel Martin Longhurst for Josh McDonald used different language, telling the court Levis “got the stuffing kicked out of him, they tried to hang him”.

Brody Martin, Joshua McDonald and Jesse Martin leave the Cairns District Court after pleading guilty to Going in the with intent to intimidate and threatened to enter a dwelling and other offences. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Longhurst told the court there was not any “misguided loyalty”, as other defence barristers had said was the reason for the men’s behaviour, but it was “very expected loyalty” between brothers.

“The plan goes completely awry and someone ends up getting shot,” he said.

Mr Longhurst characterised Mr Skilton as a “hothead”.

Joseph Jacobs, counsel for Mr Martin, told the court that on September 19, Mr Skilton allegedly armed himself with a semiautomatic weapon, and when the party arrived, having set out early from Meena Creek, Skilton came out of house and said “what are you f****** doing here”, or words to that effect.

“Skilton fired his rifle twice in quick succession, Mr Martin tried to get away, and Skilton continued to fire,” Mr Jacobs told the court.

The court heard the men then retreated and took Brody Martin, whose tibia was “shattered”, to Cairns Base Hospital.

Judge Dean Morzone KC took a nuanced approach to sentencing the men, taking into account their early guilty pleas, levels of trauma and dysfunction in their backgrounds and, in the case of Brody Martin, the “extrajudicial punishment” he suffered with a lifelong, debilitating injury.

The men said afterwards they were satisfied with the outcome of the sentencing, which took the better part of the day, and were looking forward to getting on with their lives. Picture: Brendan Radke

As well as the threatening violence at night charge, Jesse Martin pleaded guilty to possessing a category A weapon, and was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, wholly suspended.

Brendan Levis pleaded guilty to falsely verifying a statement, as the men had made a statement to police omitting they had gone armed to Bramston Beach. He was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment with immediate parole. Judge Morzone made special mention of his actions during the incident.

“(It was a) heroic act to go and get your mate, even in circumstances when it was getting very hairy indeed,” he said.

Judge Dean Morzone KC. Picture: Brendan Radke

Brody Martin was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for going in the night with intent to intimidate, and threaten to enter a dwelling and attempting to pervert the course of justice later. He was granted immediate parole.

Joshua McDonald was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for threatening violence at night, with an immediate release on parole.

“I hope that you all have learnt a very heavy lesson of life,” Judge Morzone told the men.

“This is not the way to deal with an unjust crime against someone you held very dear. “Vigilantism, as justified as it seems at the time, never ends well.

“You are good men and you are in the way you have shown loyalty to each other.

“I can’t change you, you have to take responsibility for yourselves. I wish you all the best.”

Originally published as Four men sentenced over Bramston Beach shooting