Chad Thomas Shaw in Bundaberg Magistrates Court after public nuisance charge at Gympie RSL

A Wide Bay man’s luck in not having convictions recorded for his bad behaviour not once but six times, has run out, with a magistrate calling him out for his actions at an RSL.

The lucky run for a man who has appeared in court numerous times without having a conviction recorded is over after a magistrate told him he’d had six opportunities and wouldn’t be getting another.

Chad Thomas Shaw fronted Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday where he faced one charge of public nuisance at a licensed premises.

The court heard Shaw had been at the Gympie RSL, drinking in the restaurant area on the morning March 20, 2021 when a verbal altercation started him and some other men at the bar.

Shaw and the men started to face off and security guards moved in to separate them.

The court heard Shaw then abused a woman in the other group, which prompted that woman’s partner to swing punches at Shaw.

The Gympie RSL.

Shaw then hit back by delivering a single punch to the man, had to be restrained by RSL security officers and was detained.

Magistrate Edwina Rowan told Shaw, 25, that his conduct was highly unsuitable.

“The RSL should be a place of respect,” she said.

When Shaw’s lawyer asked that no conviction be recorded for his client’s latest offence, Ms Rowan responded that she would be recording a conviction because the defendant already had six opportunities in the courts where he’d been given the benefit of no conviction for prior offences.

The court heard Shaw was getting his life together and had received his ABN to start up a pressure washing and yard maintenance business.

Despite initially asking for a trial, Shaw ultimately decided to enter a plea of guilty.

He was fined $700.

A conviction was recorded.