Dad jailed after breaking curfew for wife’s cancer surgery in Bundaberg

A Thabeban father has been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to 15 offences, including breaking his court-ordered curfew to support his wife during breast cancer surgery.

Bundaberg man Daniel Walter Knoessl sentenced for bail breach, drugs, driving charges.

A Thabeban dad who broke his court-ordered curfew to be with his wife during her breast cancer surgery has pleaded guilty to breaching bail and 14 other offences in Bundaberg Magistrates Court.

Daniel Walter Knoessl, 38, was convicted of other offences including possessing dangerous drugs, two counts of possessing utensils or pipes for use, buying or possessing medicines or hazardous poisons, receiving tainted property, possessing property suspected of having been used in connection with the commission of a drug offence, driving an unregistered vehicle, car theft, driving an uninsured vehicle, using a vehicle without number plates, driving with a relative drug present in his system, using a vehicle with number plates from a different vehicle, and two counts of disqualified driving.

The court heard the offences were committed between December 2024 and October 2025, slightly overlapping with a six month probation order Knoessl was previously hit with.

Daniel Walter Knoessl was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Police prosecutor Leon Casey was particularly concerned with Knoessl’s driving history, noting he has been disqualified from driving 12 times already.

Defence solicitor Nicole McEldowney recognised the severity of her client’s driving offences.

“It is accepted he has an appalling traffic history,” she said, but noted “the offending is underpinned by a very long-standing drug addiction”.

Knoessl has attended three rehab facilities in Bundaberg, Brisbane, and Rockhampton, with the longest being a five-week live-in stay in Brisbane.

He said this program worked the best for him but he, unfortunately relapsed on a night out in Logan for his birthday and was assaulted, which forced him to return to Bundaberg.

Daniel Walter Knoessl has had a curfew and been wearing an ankle monitor since he returned to Bundaberg.

Since returning, he had become the primary caretaker of the family home which he shared with his children, elderly mother, and unwell wife, and had been living under strict bail conditions, like having a curfew and wearing an ankle monitor, the court heard.

It was told he had not re-offended since being back in Bundaberg, other than breaking his curfew to see his wife Jackie after her recent breast cancer surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital, which she submitted was a reasonable excuse.

Magistrate John McInnes sympathised with the “complexity” of Knoessl’s family life and imposed the head sentence on his disqualified driving charges.

He was sentenced to 18 months jail to run concurrent with one another and was disqualified from driving for five years.

Knoessl was eligible for parole on Wednesday.