Harri Lliam Howells fined after sickening act at Bundaberg police station

An 18-year-old Bundaberg man covered 80 per cent of the floor of the police watch house with his own blood after earlier throwing a blood-soaked bandage at an officer, a court has heard.

A young man who made a snow angel in his own blood at the Bundaberg watch house has faced court.

Eighteen-year-old Harri Lliam Howells spent the night drinking with friends at a party when he dropped a stubby, smashing glass on to his foot and causing it to bleed profusely, Bundaberg Magistrates Court heard this week.

Quick-thinking friends called the Queensland Ambulance Service who transported him to hospital with a bandage wrapped around his foot, but he refused to be treated and left.

Police found Howells spread-eagle on a footpath on Elliott Heads Road, and he told officers he wanted a lift home.

Harri Lliam Howells, 18, was charged with assaulting a police officer and wilful damage.

The court heard police organised to take him home, but when the attending officers arrived in the new vehicle, Howells became aggressive with them when they wouldn’t shake his hand and threw a blood-soaked bandage at one officer, striking him in the knee.

Howells was taken into custody for assaulting a police officer in a public place while adversely affected by alcohol - a breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.112.

Police prosecutor Dean Burgess told the court that at 12:44am the next day, Howells began hitting his injured foot on the floor of his cell at the Bundaberg watch house, causing the pre-existing injury to bleed heavily.

“He purposely spread blood throughout the cell by running his feet over the ground and laid down and waved his arms and legs around like what they call ‘a snow angel’,” he said.

“About 80 per cent of the floor was covered in blood.”

The court heard Howells was then charged with a second offence of wilful damage of police property.

The lawyer for Howells told the court he had no memory of the night as he was “that intoxicated”.

“He asked me to express that he’s sincerely sorry and he’s never been in trouble with the police or courts before,” he said.

Magistrate Trinity McGarvie heard Howells had no criminal history leading up to his arrest and accepted his guilty plea.

“You were grossly intoxicated, you had an injury, you engaged in behaviour that was really quite offensive because you threw a bloody item at a police officer when they were trying to help you,” she said.

“To use blood to make a cell imperfect, incapable of being used by the police service because you spread that sort of material throughout the cell is behaviour that should be condemned.”

The court heard Howells was on youth allowance but wanted to make “good” of the damage and was willing to pay back the restitution for specialist forensic cleaners to remove the blood.

He was fined $1424.50 and sentenced to 40 hours community service.

No conviction was recorded.