Brett Paul Clark pleads guilty to multiple drug offences, breaching DVO

A Bundaberg man has admitted to a drug-fueled incident when he threatened to rip a door off its hinges with his car but expressed a commitment to overcoming his addiction.

Brett Paul Clark pleaded guilty to multiple drug offences in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court.

A Bundaberg man shared a passionate promise to free himself of drugs after he placed a heavy chain on the door of a home with threats to rip it off its hinges with his car.

Brett Paul Clark pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing dangerous drugs, two counts of drug driving, one count of possessing property used in connection to a drug offence, one count of possessing utensils and one count of contravening a domestic violence order (aggravated offence).

Clark represented himself in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court, appearing via video link from custody.

Police Prosecutor Senior Constable Andrew Powis told the court Clark’s string of offending began in November 2023 when police pulled his car over for a roadside breath test.

MORE LOCAL COURT NEWS:

Alleged fatal crash driver asks for leave to support partner’s pregnancy

‘Mixing with the wrong people’: Brothers face hooning, weapons charges

“He submitted to the drug test and tested positive... the defendant did make submissions to previously consuming both methamphetamines and cannabis,” he said.

Snr Const. Powis told the court upon searching the car police found a glass pipe in a handbag belonging to Clark’s partner, which he claimed he used for smoking meth.

Police further found clip seal bags, straws, 2g of cannabis, a cannabis bud and 1g of crystallized meth.

The court was told on January 21, police once again intercepted Clark while driving, where he again tested positive to driving with meth in his system.

Police also once again found meth in the car.

The court heard Clark’s drug offending had gone beyond drug driving, when he had attached a chain to the front door of a partner’s home, with threats to attach it to his car and rip it off its hinges while in a drug-fuelled rage.

“It was about quarter past seven on the morning of the 19th of January when police attended in relation to a domestic violence incident,” Snr Const. Powis said.

“Police spoke to the informant in a neighbouring unit who stated the defendant knocked on her door and said if the [aggrieved] didn’t answer her phone he was going to rip the security screen off and get the rest of his stuff.”

Brett Paul Clark pleaded guilty to multiple drug offences in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court.

The court heard the partner had given permission for Clark to spend the night, however after an argument the following morning she had told him to leave.

The court was told police found Clark sleeping in a car down the road and he admitted to attaching the chain before being arrested.

Snr Const. Powis told the court Clark had contravened domestic violence orders on “numerous” occasions and had a history of drug driving and submitted a six- to nine-month term of imprisonment.

Clark spoke openly about his offending, and how his stint in custody had lifted the heavy veil of meth, with a strong desire to remain drug free upon his release.

“I can say that the three weeks I have been here I’ve actually not used any drugs for the first time in a very, very, very long time,” he said.

“I have a clear head...I know what I have done is wrong, I make no excuse.

“Every single time I have either committed or been charged with domestic violence I have been under the influence of meth.”

Magistrate John McInnes accepted the sincerity of Clark’s submission but said three weeks away from drugs did not amount to a long period of rehabilitation.

“So you will feel tempted to lapse, or relapse and you need to have a firm plan in place it and when that happens, a plan that involves something other than going off the rails,” he said.

Clark was given a head sentence of six months imprisonment for contravening a domestic violence order, with lesser concurrent sentences for the remaining charges and immediate parole.

His licence was suspended for six months, items seized were forfeited, and 21 days spent in presentence custody was declared time served.