Roy Tobane sentenced for incident at The Queens Gladstone

A balcony full of patrons at a Central Queensland hotel had a bird’s eye view of a “grossly intoxicated” man’s shenanigans in the street before police arrived and discovered he had a large rap sheet.

Roy Stewart Tobane was sentenced in Gladstone Magistrates Court after an incident at The Queens Gladstone.

A man who created a disturbance outside a busy Central Queensland pub while dressed only in his underwear, has faced court.

Roy Stewart Tobane, 31, pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to public nuisance and obstructing police, both in the vicinity of a licensed premises.

Police prosecutor Jennifer Leach said about 7.19pm on June 30, police were called to a disturbance at The Queens Gladstone (hotel).

“Police received information that (Tobane) was on Goondoon Street in his underwear, threatening people and standing in front of cars, yelling,” Ms Leach said.

The prosecutor said after police arrived, they saw Tobane was “grossly intoxicated” in only his underwear “a few metres from a balcony full of (hotel) patrons.”

“(Tobane’s) jeans were caught on one foot and other clothing was observed nearby,” Ms Leach said.

Tobane was not able to give police his name, the court heard.

He was arrested for public nuisance and taken to a police vehicle.

Police asked him to get into the rear pod and he refused.

“Police assisted (Tobane) into the vehicle and police attempted to close the door - (Tobane) placed his arms out of the vehicle, obstructing the door from closing,” Ms Leach said.

Police restrained Tobane, handcuffed him and took him to the watchhouse.

Tobane voluntarily provided a breath specimen which showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .298.

Roy Stewart Tobane.

Tobane had a 17-page criminal history which included previous public nuisance and obstructing police offences, as well as property, dishonesty and drug offences.

The court heard Tobane committed these latest offences while on parole but in his favour, he had engaged well with probation.

Solicitor Bianca Wieland said Tobane conceded he had issues with alcohol and at the time of this offending, he had been triggered by an unfortunate incident and “drank to excess”.

“His grandfather was in hospital and has dementia,” Ms Wieland said.

“And he (Tobane) had been speaking to him on the phone, however his grandfather didn’t know who he was and had to hand the phone back to the nurse.”

Ms Wieland said that had been “very triggering” for Tobane as his grandfather had taken over as a father figure for him early in his life after his dad passed.

She said Tobane had not worked for a couple of years, but he had previously been a fruit picker and ringer, and he was currently trying to get railway work.

Prior to sentencing on August 14, Magistrate Mary Buchanan said Tobane had a “dreadful” criminal history and she noted at the time of this offending, he was on parole for similar offending.

She placed him on 18 months’ probation, ordered he perform 80 hours of unpaid community service, and convictions were recorded.

Ms Buchanan warned Tobane if he came back before the court again for more offending in that period, he would be “looking down the barrel” of a jail sentence.