Ethan Jack Press pleads guilty in Dalby Magistrates Court to common assault, wilful damage and drink driving

A young Western Downs man has found himself in court after assaulting a life-long adversary in a feud dating back to preschool. Find out more.

Ethan Jack Press sentenced for assault.

A dispute between two men which has been ongoing since the pair were in preschool has boiled over with an assault landing one of them in court.

Western Downs man Ethan Jack Press, 21, faced Dalby Magistrates Court on Tuesday pleading guilty to common assault and wilful damage relating to an incident on July 14, 2023, and drink driving offence from June 8, 2024.

The court was told during the first offending Press was walking past a Western Downs grocery store about 6.45pm when he spotted the victim sitting in the car with his partner in the passenger seat.

The victim was known to Press and they had an ongoing grudge stretching back to the school days, which had been stoked after the aggrieved had allegedly attacked a family member of Press.

The court was told Press then reportedly yelled “hey you fat c--t” before grabbing the handle of the car, ripping it off, and attempting to drag the victim out.

During the assault the victim’s shirt was torn with Press continuing his verbal tirade screaming “you’re a gutless fat c--t”.

After failing to pull the victim from the car Press then went around to the other side of the vehicle reaching through the driver’s side window, attempting to open the door and ripping off the passenger side handle.

After the assault police attended the victim's house, finding him with a ripped shirt and two days later he officially made an assault complaint.

Meanwhile on June 9, 2024 police received a call from a witness at about 11.07pm reporting a break-in at a Tara property.

The court was told a male and female had broken into the home and thrown the occupants to the ground.

When police arrived they found the female walking away from the property before also locating Press.

When police interviewed Press he made admissions to driving to the victim's home and was subjected to a breath test where he blew a reading of 0.074.

He was not charged for any other offences from the incident.

Magistrate Kathleen Payne condemned Press for his “shocking behaviour” as well as his “foul language”.

“This sort of behaviour is what we expect from year 5 boys, to insult someone on their weight says more about you than it does about them,” she said.

Ms Payne took into account Press’ lack of criminal record and fined him $800 with no conviction.

For the drink driving offences he was fined $350 and lost his licence for three months.

He was also ordered to pay $150 in restoration from damages to the car.