Ex-councillor Paul Gleeson bailed for allegedly sharing breast photos, rape

A former SEQ councillor turned publican accused of rape and distributing images of a woman’s breasts, has been granted bail after a year behind bars.

Former councillor Paul Gleeson.

A former southeast Queensland councillor turned publican accused of rape and distributing images of a woman’s breasts, has been granted bail after a year behind bars for allegedly posting comments about a woman on social media.

Lawyers for Paul Gleeson, who most recently ran a pub near Rockhampton, were in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday before Chief Justice Helen Bowskill.

Legal Aid-funded lawyer Michael Gatenby from Gatenby Lawyers on the Gold Coast told the court that his client had his previous grant of bail revoked and been remanded in custody on December 17 last year after allegedly posting comments about a woman online.

A ban on posting comments about the woman was allegedly a condition of his bail on the charges of rape and distribution of intimate images, granted in December last year, Mr Gatenby told the court.

Paul Gleeson spent a year in jail.

Mr Gatenby submitted the comments alleged to have been posted online by Gleeson were “very tenuous” and unlikely to survive a “no case to answer” submission at committal.

“He posted various things which are said to be of, or about, the complainant,” Chief Justice Bowskill noted during the bail hearing.

Gleeson, 51, a one-time LNP candidate for the state seat of Capalaba, is alleged to have raped the woman in Mount Morgan near Rockhampton on September 26, 2023.

He is also charged with sexual assault and distribution of intimate images and he contests all the charges, Mr Gatenby told the court.

Crown prosecutor John Tickle submitted that Gleeson “failed to appreciate the seriousness” of his bail conditions on the most serious charges - rape and distribution of an intimate image - when granted bail last year.

Gleeson has never been in custody before, the court heard.

The case is set down for a closed-court pre-recording of the alleged victim’s evidence on December 17, but Mr Gatenby said this may be adjourned because he had only recently been appointed as solicitor.

Chief Justice Bowskill granted him bail on strict conditions including that Gleeson live with his brother in Cleveland in the City of Redland south-east of Brisbane, and he have no contact with his alleged victim.

Gleeson moved to Mount Morgan after losing the 2020 election, with The Mount Morgan Argus reporting him as the new publican of the Mount Morgan Railway Hotel in September 2021.