Aaron Demos sentenced after violently assaulting his neighbour in a shock home invasion

A judge labelled Gladstone man Aaron Demos’ offending as ‘irrational, mindless and stupid violence’. Find out the full details of his crimes.

When Aaron Demos found out his neighbour had not returned his father’s spanner set, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Demos, 29, chased his neighbour into his house and assaulted him with a spanner set of his own in an unprovoked display of violence.

Aaron Demos was sentenced in the Gladstone Magistrates Court on Monday.

Demos pleaded guilty in Gladstone District Court on Monday to two charges which arose from the incident - burglary and assault occasioning bodily harm.

Crown prosecutor Evan O’Hanlon-Rose detailed Demos’ offending, which started on the afternoon of September 12, 2020 at Demos’ Boyne Island address.

“They were neighbours and there was a dispute about a spanner set, the defendant thought his neighbour had not returned his father's spanner set,” Mr O’Hanlon-Rose said.

“Bizarrely, he confronted the victim and pushed his fence down while holding a spanner set before running and entering the victim’s house and hitting him over the head with the spanner set.

“The complainant then managed to push him out of the house in a brief scuffle.”

Mr O’Hanlon-Rose said Demos’ victim sustained a contusion on the top of his head and upper back.

Demos was arrested a week later and declined an interview with police.

Barrister Tom Polley said his client came from a broken family where, as a child, he was left to do whatever he pleased because there was no supervision or discipline.

“He started working at 14 as a painter’s labourer for a business, who he said were good role models,” Mr Polley said.

“The problem was, through his employers, he was hanging around socially with an older peer group and the lack of supervision prior and older peers meant he started getting into trouble.

“As such, illicit substances became a problem in his late teens which was something he quelled prior to this offending.”

Mr Polley said his client was involved in a dispute which unfortunately crossed the threshold of a house.

“However, he has got prospects of rehabilitation; a parole release date is appropriate of six months or shortly before that,” he said.

Judge Jeffrey Clarke said Queensland’s courts had long acknowledged the need to punish those who entered other people’s homes with the intention of harming or robbing.

“Yours was quite an irrational, mindless, stupid violence but it is not of the same order that unfortunately the court order often sees,” he said.

“This was a short-lived event and I am satisfied also that there is no need for concern for future problems now the complainant has stopped renting beside your father.”

Demos was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with a parole release date of December 6, 2021.