Dwayne Edward Silcox in court for UIL while on suspended sentence

A Bundaberg man has fronted court for crashing a car while more than three times over the limit, three-and-a-half years after shooting a woman in her bed with a .22 rifle.

Dwayne Edward Silcox was sentenced for breaching his suspended sentence imposed for grievous bodily harm in 2020.

A flower farm manager who drank drove and crashed his car while serving a suspended sentence for shooting a woman in the buttocks fronted a Bundaberg court on Monday.

Dwayne Edward Silcox appeared before Bundaberg District Court after breaching a suspended sentence imposed on him in 2020 for grievous bodily harm, possessing tainted property and unlawfully possessing a category A weapon used to commit an indictable offence.

With regards to the original offences, the court heard Silcox, 35 at the time, drank three cans of Canadian Club before going to a home where a woman was sick in bed.

The court heard Silcox asked the woman to drive him to a friend’s house, where he went inside and then returned carrying a long carry case, which unbeknown to the woman contained a bolt action .22 rifle and some ammunition.

The woman then drove Silcox back home and returned to bed.

Some time later, Silcox and some other people entered the bedroom, waking the woman, and Silcox showed her the rifle.

The court heard the woman was upset at seeing the rifle, and asked Silcox words to the effect of “what are you doing, why do you have a gun?”

Silcox then cocked the bolt of the rifle, pointed it at the woman and pulled the trigger, which discharged the weapon and shot the woman in the buttocks.

Silcox cocked the bolt of the rifle and shot the woman in the buttocks, fracturing her left upper femur and severing 50% of her left sciatic nerve.

The court heard the woman sustained a fracture to her left upper femur and her left sciatic nerve was 50% severed from the incident.

After firing the weapon Silcox said “what the f--k, how could it be loaded?” and the woman, in shock, repeatedly said “what the f--k did that just happen?”.

The court heard Silcox then left the house and threw the rifle behind a shed.

Silcox pleaded guilty on January 30, 2020 to the offences including grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to four years jail, with release after 12 months, and a five-year suspended sentence to be served after his release.

In June 2023, Silcox, now 40, drank some alcohol at his ex-wife’s home before getting into his car and reversing down the driveway onto the road without checking for oncoming traffic.

CCTV footage showed him accelerate rapidly forward for about one second before crashing into a light pole on the other side of the road, after which he left the scene.

A breath analysis soon afterwards revealed a breath alcohol concentration of 0.163.

The court heard at the time of the crash Silcox held a C-class learner’s licence and had no L-plates displayed.

His barrister told the court after being released from prison Silcox took a job as a flower farm manager seven days a week, 10 hours a day, and was supporting five children.

Judge John Allen KC ordered Silcox serve 12 months of his suspended sentence with immediate release on parole.