Bundaberg’s domestic violence offenders of 2023-24 named
As authorities struggle to deal with the region’s worsening domestic and family violence issues, these are some of the recent, bone-chilling court cases that illustrate its full horror.
Police & Courts
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In recent years the Bundaberg region has become a hot spot for domestic and family violence, with callouts to police skyrocketing in the past two years.
So bad is the situation, local police are spearheading an ambitious regional campaign to eliminate the scourge, gathering community leaders together to form a working group to tackle the problem at its roots.
Across Australia one woman dies each week from domestic violence. While the laws around naming and shaming abusers remain complicated, it is one way to highlight the issue through case studies, flush it out of the shadows and possibly save lives.
The following are some of Bundaberg’s most recent domestic violence offenders dealt with by the courts, and who were able to be named because of the nature of their abuse:
Michael Raymond Gibbs
Bundaberg man Michael Raymond Gibbs pleaded guilty to a “chilling” set of charges after he threatened to kill his partner several times and choked her after police intervened on May 30, 2023.
Gibbs pleaded guilty to multiple domestic violence related offences, including two counts of wilful damage, one count each of suffocation in a domestic setting, assault occasioning bodily harm, burglary, strangulation in a domestic setting, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, common assault and contravening a police protection notice.
The court heard drug addiction played a role in his crimes, contributing to a “bender” of abuse on his partner which included restricting her breathing, biting her, smashing household items, punching a hole in the wall and threatening to kill her before she was able to escape.
Even after Gibbs was taken to the Bundaberg police station, and issued with a protection notice which prevented him from seeing his partner again, he returned to their shared unit and broke in before choking her once again.
The court heard Gibbs also produced a baseball bat and threatened to “smash” her with it and when she put her hands up in self-defence he swung it into her right hand.
“She screamed for help and he told her to ‘shut the f — k up’ and pressed the bat forcefully against her and that’s when she heard the police arriving,” Crown Prosecutor Anika Fritz told the court.
Gibbs was sentenced to a four-year head sentence of imprisonment for the strangulation and burglary charges, three years imprisonment for suffocation, two and a half years for armed assault, two years for common assault, 18 months for one count of wilful damage and 12 months for the second count of wilful damage.
Convictions were recorded on the remaining offences and Gibbs will be eligible for parole on July 30, 2024, with 273 days of pre-sentence custody declared time served.
Jason Andrew Nutt
A Bundaberg man with a prolonged history of domestic violence against several women will remain behind bars after pleading guilty over a terrifying ordeal in which he chased his ex-partner through an orchard late at night while threatening to kill her.
Jason Andrew Nutt, 42, pleaded guilty to multiple domestic violence offences including strangulation, common assault, assault occasioning bodily harm and three counts of contravening a domestic violence order aggravated offence.
Crown Prosecutor Anika Fritz told the court Nutt had split from his former partner which had resulted in a protection order prohibiting him from seeing her when the pair met at night on March 24, 2023.
What followed were scenes fit for a horror movie, with an argument between the two escalating to the point Nutt choked, slapped and punched her before she was able to escape the car through a back window.
Nutt then proceeded to chase her through a dark orchard, first in the car then on foot all while threatening to kill her.
Left with no escape, the woman returned to Nutt though as they drove away, police intervened and arrested him.
Barrister Liam Dollar said Nutt had become addicted to meth in later life and this addiction ended his first marriage.
Judge Leanne Clare was critical of the submission and said the drug’s “insidious” presence in the Bundaberg community was a “scourge” which had made itself known in several court sentences before her in the preceding days.
Nutt was given a three-and-a-half-year head sentence for the strangulation charge, with concurrent sentences of two years’ imprisonment for assault occasioning bodily harm, 18 months for common assault and 18 months per contravention of domestic violence order.
Time spent in pre-sentence custody was declared time served and he will be released on parole on May 25, 2024.
Ryan Macdonald
A Bundaberg father choked a woman with both hands, leaving her with a sore and bruised neck, chest and ribs, all because of an argument over a mobile phone.
Ryan Macdonald pleaded guilty to strangulation in a domestic setting in Bundaberg District Court on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
The court heard the incident had stemmed from an argument between Macdonald and a woman he was living with when she asked him to leave the premises.
She drove off in her car while MacDonald packed his bags, but returned a short time afterwards due to running low on petrol, though when she returned to the home Macdonald drove his own car towards her car, blocking it against a car park fence.
He then got out of his car and opened the woman’s car door while shouting “bring my phone I know you’ve got it” before trying to grab at the woman’s phone which she was holding.
A struggle ensued, through which Macdonald strangled the woman using both hands for about 30 seconds which caused her pain and interrupted her breathing, the court heard.
Photographs taken by police showed bruising on her neck and tenderness on her chest and ribs.
Macdonald was sentenced to two years imprisonment, with immediate release on parole for time served in pre-sentence custody.
Ethan Connor Ballard
A former retail worker assaulted and choked a woman in an attack she said “stripped her of her soul”.
Ethan Connor Ballard pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court to charges of common assault, assault occasioning bodily harm and strangulation in a domestic setting.
The court heard the offending had stemmed from an argument between Ballard and his victim which escalated to him pushing her against the front door while she tried to leave and throwing her to the ground.
The court heard Ballard kicked the woman multiple times including her face, torso and buttocks before forcing her into the corner of the room and placing her in a headlock.
Ballard tightened his hold around her neck, which stopped her from screaming and made it difficult for her to breathe before releasing her and saying “if I go to jail you’re dead”.
The court heard Ballard had an extensive criminal history involving domestic violence, including punching a previous partner to the back of her head, grabbing her by the hair, punching her in the mouth and lower back, and squeezing her throat to the point of her collapsing.
Judge Everson gave Ballard a head sentence of three years with a parole release date of August 5, 2024 taking into account 123 days served in pre-sentence custody.
Bradley Amadeus Bessant-Probert
A man made more than 2000 phone calls and text messages to a woman including threats against her family over a 13 day period in breach of a domestic violence order.
Bradley Amadeus Bessant-Probert pleaded guilty before Bundaberg Magistrates Court on May 9, 2023, to three counts of contravening a domestic violence order and one of unlawful stalking.
A domestic violence order prohibiting Bessant-Probert from making any contact with the woman was in place when he sent the text messages and made the phone calls.
The court was told Bessant-Probert also uploaded an image of the woman to the classified ads website Locanto with the heading “I am a horny s--t” and text solicited clients for sexual services with the woman’s phone number included, and threatened to go to her house.
On another occasion Bessant-Probert approached the woman in a shopping centre and followed her before being restrained by security guards after getting into a loud argument with her.
He was later arrested after waiting outside her house for an hour, shouting insults and threatening to post her picture on the internet.
Magistrate Edwina Rowan told Bessant-Probert his behaviour in relation to the offences was “abhorrent” and “disgusting” and would have caused the woman “extreme fear”.
Bessant-Probert was sentenced to two years’ prison with parole in October, 2023 on account of time already served in custody.
Nathan James Kennedy
A young father was jailed after threatening an ex-partner following a separate, terrifying incident at the Bundaberg Show.
Nathan James Kennedy, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of wilful damage, one count of threatening violence and one count of wilful damage – domestic violence offence in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on November 20, 2023.
The court heard the unemployed Kennedy had been attending the Bundaberg Show on May 31, 2023 when he followed a young family to their car, a family who had decided to leave the grounds after noticing Kennedy watching them.
The court heard the mother was buckling her son into his seat while the husband started the car. The family was not known to Kennedy.
When Kennedy approached the car and opened the rear passenger door, the father began filming, while asking Kennedy to shut the door and leave them alone.
“The defendant made threats saying ‘I don’t care, I’ll flog you in front of your kid c —t, get out of the car’,” the police prosecutor said.
In a separate incident, which constituted the count of wilful damage – domestic violence offence the court was told Kennedy was “pushing and pulling” an ex-girlfriend in front of his unit in front of the woman’s mother.
Kennedy approached the mother in her car, punching the Patrol ute several times, the court heard.
The mother said to Kennedy, “please don’t wreck the car” to which he replied, “that’s the least of your problems, I’m going to f —k you all up”, the court was told.
Kennedy was sentenced to 12 months’ jail on each of the charges and convictions were recorded.
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