7 terrible scenes that landed people in court this fornight

From a Gympie woman who punched a police officer, a man who ‘forgot’ about a stolen bike and a woman who hid drugs between her legs, these are just some of the dramatic stories fronting court

Teen abuses police helping stabbing victim

A TEEN who interfered with police and paramedics who were treating a person who had been stabbed in the back on New Year’s Eve was fined in Gympie Magistrates Court.

Harry James McGrath, 19, of Rainbow Beach was abusive to police and tried to hit out at an ambulance officer attending to the stabbing victim at 11.20pm on Rainbow Beach Rd, the court heard.

Harry McGrath, 19, pleaded guilty to obstructing police who were attending to a stabbing victim at Rainbow Beach on New Year's Eve.

“If you c---- won’t do your job, we’ll do it for you,” he was heard to yell at officers.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan acknowledged McGrath had nothing to do with the incident and no previous criminal history but said his behaviour on the night was “quite bad”.

McGrath’s lawyer said the teen had mixed medication he was on for a shoulder injury with alcohol on the evening.

“Intoxication by medicine and alcohol is no excuse,” Magistrate Callaghan said.

He fined the teen $300 for obstructing police.

No conviction was recorded.

MORE GYMPIE COURT: ‘I’ll put a bullet in your head’ Ex-gym owner’s vile threat

Woman hammer punches police officer at skate park

A WOMAN who threatened a police officer before “hammer punching” his arm when he was arresting two other women at the Gympie skate park had a long criminal history that included police abuse.

Courtney Jade Wilshere, 22, of Gympie, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court recently to assaulting and obstructing police late at night on January 22 when a fight broke out at the Gympie skate park.

“Do you want to get knocked the f--- out?,” Wilshere yelled at an officer before striking his forearm, the court heard.

Courtney Wilshere (pictured) assaulted a police officer at Gympie's skate park in January. Photo: Facebook

She was then restrained on the ground where she threatened to headbutt “all the officers” there, the police prosecutor told the court.

Wilshere’s lawyer Chris Anderson said his client had a “problem with alcohol” and had drunk half a carton of beer as well as cider and vodka the night of the attack.

He said Wilshere had attended drug and alcohol counselling late last year.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan said alcohol abuse would not soften the woman’s sentence and referred to three pages of criminal history including three other convictions of assaulting or obstructing police.

Wilshere also pleaded guilty to shoplifting $92 worth of goods from Big W in Maryborough on November 19, last year.

The magistrate noted it was the fourth shoplifting conviction on Wilshere’s record and sentenced her to 60 hours months community service.

She was ordered to pay $92 in compensation. She was placed on 12 months probation for assault and obstruct police.

MORE GYMPIE COURT: Man abuses police, ambos helping stabbing victim

Drunk, shirtless man dodges traffic with stolen scooter

AN ODD string of crimes committed by a 24-year-old man with no criminal history had Gympie magistrate Chris Callaghan scratching his head in court last week.

From fraudulently using a debit card to being caught wandering the street, half naked with a stolen scooter, Tyler Dennis Ward of Chatsworth only gave “stupidity” as an excuse for his sudden offending.

On December 28 last year, Ward was found jumping in front of cars near Robert Rd at Chatsworth while highly intoxicated, the court heard.

He was shirtless, covered in cuts and was holding a scooter and vehicle’s light bar that turned out be stolen, the prosecution said.

Tyler Ward (pictured) told police he couldn't remember anything when he was bizarrely found wandering drunk and shirtless on the road at Chatsworth with a stolen scooter. Photo: Facebook

RELATED: Drugs ruin New Year’s fun for Gympie man

It was four months after Ward stole a trailer from a vehicle on the corner of Langton and Brisbane Rds.

He had cut the trailer about 8am on September 8 and towed it away, only returning it nearby months later after he heard word had “gotten around” about it.

On September 10, Ward stole a packet of tobacco and cigarettes from a Kilkivan store and on September 28 used someone else’s debit card to pay for $101.40 worth of goods at the Gympie West Store.

“You reached 24 and all of a sudden started committing offences,” Mr Callaghan said.

“You’ve been a decent citizen before doing these things – which you say you’ve done through stupidity.”

Callaghan put Ward on probation for 12 months “so he could get counselling to get himself straightened out”.

He was ordered to pay $244 in compensation.

No conviction was recorded.

Wanted man caught in Gympie CBD

A GYMPIE man who had kept clean for six years, according to his criminal record, was last month picked up in Gympie for outstanding drug charges.

“I’m stupid,” Thomas Patrick John Gallaher, 37, told Gympie Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to driving unlicensed and possessing dangerous drugs.

The court heard on October 27 last year, Gallaher was caught driving without a licence outside the Royal Mail Hotel at Tewantin at 12.30am.

Police found “one point” of methamphetamine and a glass pipe for smoking it hidden in a glasses case under a car seat.

He was arrested on January 24 at Lawrence St in Gympie after a warrant was out for his arrest over the charges.

In court, Magistrate Chris Callaghan said he would not strip the man of his licence to give him the best chance to secure a job.

He was fined $500 and a conviction was recorded.

Woman hides drugs between legs

Jodie Sherie Knowles, 50, was caught with $200 worth of ice and drug-related items when police searched her home. Photo: Facebook

A WOMAN who tried to hide a small bag of the drug ice when police were searching her home, was caught when officers saw the item tucked between her legs.

She had told officers she needed as cigarette as she tried to sneak the drugs into her bedroom during the search, Gympie Magistrates Court heard last week.

Jodie Sherie Knowles, 50, was caught with a clipseal bag, $200 worth of ice and drug-related items covered with crystal meth residue on January 22 at her Tandur home.

The mother of three was fined $400 and a conviction was recorded.

MORE: Thief attempts to use bobcat to knock off beer from Showgrounds

Man ’forgets’ stolen bike was in shed

A TRAVESTON man had a hard time in court explaining why police found a stolen motorbike in his shed earlier this year.

“Oh s--- – I forgot it was there,” was the initial reaction John Francis Hartwig, 33, had in front of police when they searched his home in January and uncovered a Yamaha off-road bike that had been stolen from a Cooran property.

“My mate had ridden it over, I did not know he left it there – obviously it was stolen,” he told Gympie Magistrates Court recently when he pleaded guilty to having possession of the item.

Hartwig, who had a serious criminal history including drug offences, was sentenced to six months jail, suspended for 18 months.

Gympie dad bashes teen with metal bar

A GYMPIE father of three who bashed a teenager with a metal bar has narrowly avoided time behind bars on account of his family.

On Boxing Day last year Raymond Barry Griffiths was called by a friend of his nephew, who said the youth was bickering with others at the skate park and “in trouble”.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Lisa Manns told the court the 27-year-old Griffiths jumped in the car and drove to the park.

Raymond Griffiths was in Gympie Magistrates Court.

Once there he took a two-piece metal car jack from the boot and confronted and then kicked the 16-year-old victim.

The teenager fought back, and Griffiths retaliated by striking him with one of the bars.

When the teen tried to flee, Griffiths chased, catching up with him and leaving him cut, bruised and with a gash on his head that needed five stitches.

Griffiths’ solicitor Tim Campion told the court his client, a tree lopper with children aged from 10 months to 8 years, “had been having a few drinks when he got the call”.

He took the metal bars from the boot for protection when he saw a “melee” of more than 20 teenagers.

“He immediately thought they were going to give his nephew … a hiding,” Mr Campion said.

However, Magistrate Chris Callaghan pointed out the problem was “in a one-on-one fight he’s used (the bars)”.

Mr Callaghan said the community “has got to denounce people taking the law into their own hands”, which was what Griffiths did, instead of removing his nephew from the park.

“You fought, (the teenager) struck you and you used a metal bar to strike him,” Mr Callaghan said.

And this crime came on top of a history littered with charges of assault, grievous bodily harm and domestic violence order breaches, he said.

Griffiths, who pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a weapon, was slapped with a nine month jail sentence. but released on parole immediately because of the need to earn an income and support his three children.

He was also ordered to pay $750 in compensation, was barred him from contacting the victim,

and banned from going near the skate park until February 2022.

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