Zaydan Bygate sentenced in Chinchilla Magistrates Court after assaulting elderly neighbour

A man who bragged about being mates with bikies, punched an elderly man at his Western Downs home after pulling a knife on other witnesses and threatening to kill them. See the shocking string of offences.

Zaydan Bygate was sentenced in Chinchilla Magistrates Court for a string of offences including the serious assault of a 66-year-old man. Picture: Facebook

What started as a family barbecue in a Western Downs backyard ended with an elderly man being punched in the face and multiple neighbours having weapons pointed in their direction with threats being made to kill them.

Zaydan Bygate appeared in Chinchilla Magistrates Court on December 7 after he got into an argument with people at the barbecue in Miles, before turning his anger towards nearby witnesses.

Police prosecutor Derek Brady said on December 1 the 18-year-old was drinking at the gathering in a Condamine St home, before a fight exploded and the young man exited the house, continuing to yell at those he was fighting with.

“(Bygate) said ‘get f--ked, I know bikers’, when a neighbour came outside,” Sergeant Brady said.

The court was told the young man turned to the neighbour, a 66-year-old man, and said “who are you looking at you old geriatric c--t?”

More threats were thrown at nearby witnesses, as the Sergeant revealed Bygate also yelled he would “get the Bandidos” and said he would “get his gun and shoot them”.

The court was told the Chinchilla man armed himself with a knife and walked outside towards his neighbours, before a person known to him interfered and Bygate stabbed the weapon into a bin.

It was said, the man told witnesses he would come back with a gun.

“He returned with what appeared to be a pistol,” Sergeant Brady said.

A black Gel Blaster pistol. Picture: Liam Kidston

However, the court was told that the man was in possession of a gel blaster.

“Witnesses described it as a black handgun, and he motioned like he was going to shoot them and said he was going to ‘f--king kill them’, before the elderly neighbour said ‘come on then’.

“The gun was put down and (Bygate) exited his yard holding a metal pole, waving it around.”

Sergeant Brady said Bygate’s dog entered a female neighbour’s yard, where the woman patted the dog.

“He started threatening her, and said she was trying to steal his dog and threatened to kill her,” the court was told.

It was after the threats to the female neighbour that Bygate walked up to the elderly man and punched him in the face, causing the man to suffer a busted lip.

The court was told when police arrived Bygate was uncooperative and was in possession of a small pipe used for cannabis.

Defence lawyer Michael Corbin referred to his client as a “troubled young man”.

“He has a number of issues he’s addressing and he’s working on that,” Mr Corbin said.

“A couple of things went wrong that day. He himself suffered injuries that day and was sporting two black eyes.”

Acting magistrate Andrew Walker voiced his concerns for the young man’s alcohol use.

“What led to this was alcohol, arguments, and it got worse from there,” he said.

“You need to put yourself in the position of a member of the public, these neighbours would have been frightened.

“Gel blasters from a distance do look like a real firearm and would cause people to fear it’s a gun and you talked about ‘f--king killing people’. I think you need some help.”

Despite the seriousness of the offences, Mr Walker said he believed no conviction should be recorded due to the man’s young age and lack of criminal history.

Bygate pleaded guilty to serious assault of a person over 60, two counts of going armed to cause fear and one count each of public nuisance, trespass, obstruction of a police officer and possessing drug-related utensils.

He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, all items were forfeited to the state. No convictions were recorded.