Violent Gold Coast offenders who faced courts in the past year named and shamed
In the past year, 3939 assault offences were recorded in the Gold Coast police district, equating to an average of 10 a day. VIOLENT OFFENDERS NAMED
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In the past year, 3939 assault offences were recorded in the Gold Coast police district.
This equates to an average of just over 10 assaults occurring each day.
Since March 26, 2021, there were 5798 assaults in the Brisbane police district – an average of almost 16 per day.
Many believe the key to reducing our alarming crime figures is tougher sentencing to act as a deterrent for others.
But have we already achieved this? Or is there still more to be done?
Read on as the Bulletin takes a look back at six of the Gold Coast’s most violent offenders who faced court for their crimes over the past year.
Of the six, four received immediate parole, while one was given two years’ probation and a fine and another was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Does the punishment fit the crime? You be the judge.
Brendan Michael Eldridge
A man who choked his partner, knocked her unconscious on a wooden step and refused to let her leave their bedroom walked out of the front doors at court.
It is still not clear why Brendan Michael Eldridge attacked his partner in the early hours of a morning about two years ago.
The entire ordeal lasted for three hours until the 38-year-old suddenly stopped.
Eldridge pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to choking, assault occasioning bodily harm, assault and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
Judge Katherine McGinness sentenced him last month to two and a half years’ prison with immediate parole.
She also ordered Eldridge to pay the woman $7000 in compensation.
“In these cases where victims are subjected to choking or strangulation they are placed at serious personal risk and a fatality can often be a consequence,” Judge McGinness said.
“I accept you have been motivated to ensure this type of thing does not occur again.”
Crown prosecutor Mitch Whelan said Eldridge and his partner began drinking at a barbecue on February 15, continued to drink into the night and went to bed heavily intoxicated.
He said the woman woke up about 2am to find Eldridge standing beside the bed, naked and mumbling.
“She turned the bedroom light on and he began yelling at her and squeezed her throat for around five seconds,” Mr Whelan said.
“She screamed and he placed a hand over her mouth and placed her in a choke hold.”
The court was told he held her for about 15 seconds.
The woman went to the bathroom and vomited and Mr Whelan said when she returned Eldridge abused her and told her she wasn’t allowed to go to the bathroom or leave the bedroom.
He then grabbed the woman by the nose and put his palm over her mouth.
Mr Whelan said when the woman thought Eldridge was asleep she tried to creep out of the house but Eldridge followed her.
She convinced him to let her have a cigarette but attacked her again going up the stairs.
Mr Whelan said Eldridge banged her head on the wooden step which rendered her unconscious for a short period.
He said when the woman woke up Eldridge’s hand was over her mouth and he abused her, making threats to kill her.
In the bedroom the woman asked Eldridge “why he was doing this”.
In response Eldridge asked her to say that she loved him.
Mr Whelan said when the woman refused, Eldridge grabbed her again before suddenly letting her go and leaving the home.
The woman texted a neighbour who came over an hour later and helped her get medical assistance.
Defence barrister Nick McGhee, instructed by Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, said Eldridge had undergone counselling since the incident and taken steps towards rehabilitation.
He said the relationship between Eldridge and the woman had been “fairly volatile”.
Belinda Lee Baskerville
A mother of seven was sentenced to more than five years prison for stabbing two teens during an early morning fracas in Surfers Paradise.
Belinda Lee Baskerville, 38, told family members she loved them and to keep their heads up as she was taken into custody.
The former Gold Coast University Hospital nurse pleaded guilty to wounding and grievous bodily harm after a violent melee about 2.40am on September 4, 2020, that left one 17-year-old boy with a collapsed lung.
The Southport District Court was told the two 17-year-old victims were visiting the Coast and became involved in a series of altercations with another group, which included Baskerville and two of her sons.
The violence came to a head when one of Baskerville’s sons pulled out a box-cutter blade. One victim said “drop the knife and have a crack”, the court was told.
After a verbal altercation, a fight broke out and members of both groups rushed over to join the melee.
As her sons fought the two teenage boys, Baskerville stabbed one to the right side.
She stabbed at the other teen three times, hitting him twice to the upper back. He was rushed to hospital and found to have suffered a collapsed lung.
Judge Deborah Holliday said the violence was “completely unacceptable” and she “should have known better”.
The court heard Baskerville told a psychologist she was on a family holiday on the night of the fight and had been out drinking and taking drugs.
Baskerville said she became aware that there was a “conflict” between her two sons and a group of people and went to find them to get them back to the hotel safely. She said she was highly protective of her children.
“It’s evident that from the CCTV footage that there were many other means that you could have utilised to get your sons home safely,” Judge Holliday said.
“Instead it was you that introduced the weapon to this fight and inflicted the injuries on your complainants.”
Defence barrister James McNab, instructed by Hannay Lawyers, told the court Baskerville’s life had spiralled into alcohol and drug use in the lead up to the violent episode, after discovering her long-time partner’s affair with a close friend.
The court was told she was a victim of domestic violence and still struggling with the death of her 18-month-old child by drowning.
The death motivated her to become a nurse.
The court heard she had stopped drinking and taking drugs and was seeking help from a counsellor.
Baskerville was sentenced in January to five-and-a-half years’ jail and will be eligible for parole on August 8, 2023 – less than 20 months in prison.
Shane Gibbs
Former SAS soldier Shane Gibbs choked his wife twice in a horrifying attack that caused her to wet herself and was recorded by triple-0 operators.
In the audio, Gibbs can be heard saying “you’re dead” in a cold and hard voice while his wife was calling for help.
The Gold Coast community was left in disbelief after Gibbs walked from court in June, not required to spend time in custody.
Gibbs was found guilty of two counts of choking after a two-week trial in the Southport District Court.
His now former wife told the court during sentencing: “I want to make one thing very clear. You nearly killed me and it still haunts me every single day.
“It will never leave me. What you did all those years and even now is a choice.”
The woman spoke about how she would barricade doors and windows, hide household items that had cords so they could not be used to strangle her and ripped holes in pillows so she could breathe if smothered.
Judge Geraldine Dann had sentenced Gibbs to three years’ prison with immediate release on parole. Attorney-General Shannon Fentimen appealed the decision but the Court of Appeal found the sentence was adequate.
Shannon Jay Ryan
A truck driver choked his ex-partner, took her to a hotel, kept her in a room and assaulted her in an attack described as a “cold display of indifference and disdain”.
Shannon Jay Ryan frightened his former partner so much she wet herself.
The woman did not complain to police until they asked her about injuries when they came to her home looking for Ryan on another matter.
Ryan, 34, pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court in December to multiple charges, including choking, deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm.
Judge Deborah Holliday sentenced Ryan to three years’ prison with immediate release on parole. He had served 373 days in pre-sentence custody.
Crown prosecutor Lara Soldi said Ryan had been in a relationship with the woman for “not terribly long” before they split.
On August 16, 2020, Ryan went to the woman’s Gold Coast home and demanded to know who she was sleeping with while they were together.
She refused to answer and they argued for about half an hour.
Ms Soldi said Ryan grabbed her by the throat, picked her up and threw her on the floor.
Ms Soldi said Ryan took her to a room at the Atrium Resort in Biggera Waters and called out to another woman.
The woman began questioning the victim about why she “broke up two of their friends”.
When she tried to leave, the woman pulled her back in.
“(The victim) became so fearful she wet herself,” Ms Soldi said.
That is when Ryan and the woman began to beat the woman.
“He played an active role in committing an assault with another person,” Ms Soldi said.
“It was such a cold display of indifference and disdain.”
The woman was left with multiple cuts and bruises which were still visible on August 19 when police came looking for Ryan.
Defence barrister Sarah Thompson, instructed by Cooper Roper Legal, said Ryan had substance abuse issues and was using the drugs ice and fantasy at the time of the assault.
Dallas Morgan
An alleged bikie gang associate stomped on the head of an unconscious man as he and three mates beat him on the side of a Surfers Paradise street.
Dallas Morgan and his mates attacked Eden Green in a case of mistaken identity on Illawong Crescent, Surfers Paradise, about 5.45pm on October 25, 2020.
The attackers thought Mr Green had shot one of their friends in a home invasion, the court was told.
Mr Green had not shot anyone and another man committed the home invasion.
Morgan, 26, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court in October to assault occasioning bodily harm, receiving tainted property, failing to provide his mobile phone password and breaching bail.
Magistrate Louisa Pink sentenced him to two years’ probation and fined him $300.
The court was told Morgan and the group began to follow Mr Green after they left a function in Surfers Paradise.
They attacked the man with kicks and punches.
When Mr Green’s friends tried to intervene one of the group chased them away with a knife.
“(Mr Green) was assaulted to such an extent he was rendered unconscious,” Magistrate Pink said.
“When he was clearly unconscious, and there is footage of all of this, he was repeatedly kicked and stomped to the head by you and another mate.
“Friends tried to intervene and they were chased away.”
Magistrate Pink said it was a last chance for Morgan, who is a New Zealand citizen and risks deportation if he is sentenced to more than 12 months’ prison.
“You are not going to get a free pass on an ongoing basis,” she said.
“If you don’t want to go back to New Zealand you need to make different decisions, starting now.”
Defence lawyer Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, said Morgan and his group spotted Mr Green at the party and thought he was friends with a man who had shot one of their friends.
Mr Gatenby said Morgan was now clean of drugs and keen to move on.
Jesse William Leslie Donaghy
A 23-year-old man appeared in court after unleashing a violent attack on a woman and man at the lifts of a high-rise building in Southport.
Jesse William Leslie Donaghy, of Hope Island, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh Magistrates Court in October to more than 10 charges, including two counts of common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm.
The court heard Donaghy unlawfully assaulted a man to the point where he was unconscious and did him bodily harm at a licensed premises in Surfers Paradise on October 7, 2019.
Magistrate Michael O’Driscoll said police material shows the incident started in relation to someone insulting another person.
“There’s multiple violence at the licensed premises, obviously inappropriate and unacceptable by all standards,” he said.
The court heard Donaghy also unlawfully assaulted a woman and man in the lift of a high-rise building at Southport on December 16, 2018.
Police prosecutor Sgt Donna Kay told the court the assaults were “ extremely serious offences”.
“It does involve strikes, hits and stomping,” she said.
A victim statement written by the female complainant in the matter was read out in court which said she was still in living fear at the high rise because of what happened in the lifts on the day in question.
He was also charged with possessing steroids in Runaway Bay on October 28, 2019, and possessing testosterone on November 1, 2019.
The court heard Donaghy had an extensive criminal history and had been sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment in the Supreme Court on June 19.
He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with an immediate parole eligibility date.
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