Robert Farrell sentenced in Rockhampton Court for assault at Calliope

A court has heard a teen and his group of mates tracked down their victim as he left a party, threatening to bash him to the ground because he ‘deserved it’.

Robert Daniel Farrell pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm and burglary.

A teen has avoided spending time in a jail cell after he joined a gang of his mates to bash a man in their social circle.

Robert Daniel Farrell, 19, was sentenced in Rockhampton District Court after previously pleading guilty to burglary and assault occasioning bodily harm.

The court heard Farrell had been drinking at a party in Calliope with some friends and the victim on February 18 this year.

The victim was in the same social group as Farrell and his friends.

Farrell had been “annoying” the victim throughout the afternoon and night, doing things such as pretending to fight him.

The victim left the party to get away from Farrell, with a friend walking him home.

During the walk home Farrell called the friend of the victim, threatening to bash the victim and trying to find out where he was.

Farrell was heard saying “we’re going to rock up on your doorstep”.

The victim arrived home by 10.30pm where he was living with his ex-partner and her son, with Farrell and four other men arriving at the home a short time later.

Farrell went to the victim’s bedroom window and demanded him to go outside, to which he declined.

The group then stood near the front door of the home before the victim made his way to the door, arming himself with two knives.

The group started shouting at the victim, with Farrell saying “open the f---ing door” and “I’ll come in there and get you c--t”.

The court heard the victim told the group to “f--k off” and threatened Farrell with a knife.

Farrell then shoved the door open and entered the house.

The victim’s ex-partner then arrived at the door and tried to block Farrell from entering the house.

The victim was then grabbed and punched a number of times by another member of the group.

Farrell stayed at the door before the other group member was pulled off the victim.

The victim got up off the floor before he was grabbed by Farrell, who pushed him outside the house and punched him to the chin.

The victim fell before getting up and walking to the police station.

The victim suffered facial bruising and “low level” injuries to the head.

The court heard there was “limited information” about what caused the incident, but there was “some hostility” between the group and the victim.

A download of Farrell’s phone found there was a recording of some of the events in the lead-up to the assault but the recording stopped before the violence started.

Farrell made some admissions to the offending, but told police the victim “deserved it”.

The prosecutor told the court the offending was aggravated by the fact Farrell had “actively sought out” the victim after he had removed himself from the party.

Farrell’s barrister Sheridan Shaw said it was after her client and the victim had conversed at the bedroom window that things began to escalate.

She said Farrell had his own problems with the victim, and the knives at the front door triggered the events that followed.

Ms Shaw said her client was now living in Rockhampton, had a job and was living with his employer.

Judge Jeff Clarke took into account Farrell’s guilty plea and his young age when sentencing.

Judge Clarke said the fact Farrell was intoxicated at the time of the incident “did not detract” from what he had done.

“What you did here is just thoroughly wrong, and there should be no justification for it,” he said.

He encouraged Farrell to strive for his court appearance to be the last time opening a courtroom door.

Farrell was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and was given an immediate parole release.