Gympie’s domestic violence offenders of 2023-24
As authorities struggle to deal with the region’s worsening domestic and family violence issues, these are some of the recent, bone-chilling court cases that illustrate its full horror.
Police & Courts
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A man who choked his partner, and another who broke his father’s throat are among the abusive men to face Gympie courts in the past 12 months as police respond to hundreds of DV call-outs across the region.
From July 2023 to June 2024, officers have attended more than 440 callouts to breaches of domestic violence orders in the region.
This number does not include June 2024, which is yet to be made available, but is already higher than the 418 DVO breaches recorded between July 2022 and June 2023.
These are the domestic violence offenders who have faced Gympie’s courts since the start of 2023.
Cameron Laurie Brown
A Victory Height’s man’s abusive behaviour towards his partner was labelled “cowardly” by a judge who then jailed him for several months.
Cameron Laurie Brown, 26, faced court in April after he threatened, kicked and choked his partner of four years in the garage of their Gympie home on January 17, 2024.
The fight was over claims of infidelity, the region’s District Court was told.
Brown initially threatened to slap his victim across the face, then kicked her in the leg, and followed through with his initial threat.
The court heard he then grabbed the woman by the throat and choked her for five seconds, moving her around the garage as he did.
Brown pleaded guilty to making threats of violence with intent to alarm, common assault, and choking, all domestic violence offences.
Judge Brad Farr told Brown his actions were “cowardly”.
He was sentenced to two years’ jail and will be released on parole on July 17, 2024.
More details here
Douglas O’Reilly
A 34-year-old man who pleaded guilty to torturing a woman will be sentenced over his “egregious” crimes once a psychological report is presented to the courts.
Douglas O’Reilly pleaded guilty at Gympie District Court in May 2024 to torture, a domestic violence offence.
The crime occurred on November 2, 2023.
No details of his offending were heard by the court during his appearance.
O’Reilly, who was in custody, had his sentencing delayed until at least the city’s next District Court sittings in July as the court awaits the completion of a psychological report.
The court heard O’Reilly’s victim, who was sitting in the court’s public gallery, had written to the defence asking for adult restorative justice to be part of his sentence.
This was rejected by the prosecution, who told the court O’Reilly’s offending was “far too egregious” and restorative justice “not appropriate”.
More details here.
William Geoffrey Kay
A 27-year-old carpenter will remain behind bars until 2025 after bashing and choking his own father so severely he fractured the older man’s throat.
Gympie District Court heard William Geoffrey Kay was at his parents’ home on November 24, 2023, when his 62-year-old father woke from a nap to the sound of loud music being played by another guest at the home.
Kay’s father asked the guest, a woman, to turn it down but she angrily denied the request.
The court heard Kay then stepped into the argument, forcing the older man to tell them to leave him alone.
The older man tried to retreat to his bedroom and make a call on his phone, which Kay attempted to grab, the court heard.
When the older man moved the device away Kay punched him “five or six times” on the left side of his head, Judge Bernard Porter said.
Kay’s father tried to walked away but the 27-year-old “blocked his exit”.
When his father said he wanted to leave, Kay pushed past him and grabbed him around the throat with his left arm “for about 30 seconds”, leaving him “unable to breathe”.
Kay then punched his father “four more times, approximately” while he was in the stranglehold.
Kay pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, and strangulation in a domestic setting, each a domestic violence offence.
Judge Porter sentenced him to three years’ jail.
He will be eligible for parole on January 20, 2025.
More details here.
Kane Anthony Maguire
A Mary Valley fencer’s “protracted” campaign of violence against his partner, where he bashed her so badly he fractured her ribs, has landed him behind bars until Christmas.
Kane Anthony Maguire, 31, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court in April to four counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, one count of wilful damage, and one count of strangulation in a domestic setting.
All were domestic violence offences.
The court heard Maguire, an Imbil resident, attacked and assaulted his partner of four years in a series of violent attacks between the start of 2022 and early 2023.
In June 2022 when the woman was driving him home because he was drunk, he punched her three times in the head while she was behind the wheel of the car, while hurling abuse at her.
The court heard in October 2022, Maguire came home from work one afternoon with a plan to spend the rest of the day drinking and partying.
When his partner said she was tired he accused her of cheating and “repeatedly punched her in the ribs, fracturing two”.
In December 2022, the woman came home from her work party to find Maguire asleep, the court was told.
When he woke up he again accused her of cheating, pushed her against the couch, and punched her repeatedly in the face.
As she was telling him to stop he grabbed her by the throat and started squeezing.
He then told her to get out of the house, which they shared, and as she was leaving he pushed her down a flight of eight steps.
She was left with a bruised face from the punches and a torn tendon in her shoulder from the fall.
Judge Brad Farr said Maguire’s attacks had been “terrifying” for the woman, said his behaviour was nothing short of “cowardly”, and had made his victim “feel unsafe in her own home”.
He said the 31-year-old “would have to be living under a rock” to have missed the public discourse around how abhorred these crimes were by the wider community.
Maguire was sentenced to three years jail, with a parole eligibility date of December 12, 2024.
More details here.
Boaz Herbert John Weis
A Goomeri painter sent more than 100 text messages in five days to a woman he had violently choked months prior.
Boaz Herbert John Weis, 36, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court in February 2023 to one count of choking, two counts of breaching bail and three counts of contravention of domestic violence (aggravated offence).
Crown prosecutor Michael Andronicus told the court Weis and his now ex-partner were having an argument on April 27, 2022.
The woman left their house to go to the pub due to the argument but returned later that night to find Weis drunk and the two resumed their argument.
Weis tried to pour drinks over the woman’s head and smashed the bottles lying on the floor beside them, the court heard.
“Get the f--- out of my house,” Weis shouted at the woman.
He threw her on the floor, climbed on top of her and squeezed her neck with both hands for 30 seconds, the court heard.
When he let go, she ran to call police and waited at a nearby school for the police to arrive. She was found with red marks on her neck.
On his phone, police found he breached his bail condition again by sending more than 100 text messages to the woman between October 5 and October 9, 2022.
He was given two and a half years jail and released on parole on May 8, 2023, with 200 days spent in pre-sentence custody declared as time served.
More details here.
Christopher Andrew-Lloyd Johnson
A man who attacked his partner with an electrical cord, a hammer, a tyre iron, a needle, and his fists in a pattern of violent abuse was sentenced to jail in 2023.
Christopher Andrew-Lloyd Johnson, 35, faced Gympie District in October over his shocking abuse of the woman over two months from December 2022.
The Cherbourg resident’s most serious offending occurred on December 3 when he locked the woman in her own home and attacked her with the cord.
The court heard she had returned to the family home to collect medical equipment for her sick daughter.
When she realised Johnson was there she tried to leave, but he locked her inside.
He then attacked her with the cord, wrapping it around her neck and pulling her backwards onto the ground before strangling her with it.
The court heard he kept the cord wrapped around her neck for about a minute, leaving her struggling for breath until she was able to get a hand between it and her neck.
Johnson pleaded guilty to deprivation of liberty, choking, wilful damage, three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm (one while armed), and two counts of common assault, all domestic violence offences.
He was sentenced to four years jail and became eligible for parole on March 17, 2024, owing to 275 days already served in pre-sentence custody.
More details here.
Andrew James Cougan
A 37-year-old man was jailed after punching a woman in the head so hard she suffered a “traumatic” brain injury, then trying to get her to recant her story.
Gympie District Court heard Andrew James Cougan had been with the woman on the night of March 5, 2022 when he attacked her after she’d driven to Gympie to meet up with him.
After taking a taxi to the Mount Pleasant Hotel, Cougan became agitated and asked her for $50 to buy ice.
When she refused, the court was told he stood up and “slammed her head into a table”.
They left the hotel, upon which further conflict between them ensued to the point they eventually went their separate ways after a good Samaritan intervened.
But as she walked back to the hotel where she was staying, she ran into Cougan once more, the court was told.
It was during this encounter he struck her in the head, knocking her out.
A CT scan later found her injuries included a brain bleed 3mm deep, bruising to the brain, and a “significant” shift in the midline of her brain to the right.
Burr holes had to be drilled into her skull to drain fluid and relieve pressure from the injury, which Judge Bernard Porter said “could have caused death” if left unchecked.
He pleaded guilty in August 2023 to grievous bodily harm, wilful damage, and attempting to pervert the course of justice, all domestic violence offences, and a charge related to bringing the victim into an approved telephone call.
Cougan was sentenced to six years jail for the grievous bodily harm charge, with another year added for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He became eligible for parole on March 16, 2024, owing to 504 days already served in pre-sentence custody.
More details here.
Trent John Bevin
A former meatworker and father of seven was jailed for repeatedly abusing his partner in a shocking series of crimes including stabbing her with a fork, cutting her with a machete, and strangling her, all while trying to lay the blame on her.
Trent John Bevin, 47, carried out his abuse while in a relationship with a woman at Kandanga over more than a year, from December 2021 to January 2023.
The first incident happened when Bevin stabbed her in her right wrist with a fork, drawing blood, while they were eating in bed, the court was told.
The second attack happened in late 2022, once again when Bevin and his victim were together in bed.
On that occasion he grabbed a machete from next to the bed and slashed it across her wrist, cutting it open.
Bevin then refused to take her to a doctor and instead tried to close the wound with superglue.
Bevin, who had spent 424 days in pre-sentence custody, ultimately pleaded guilty in March 2024 to three counts of unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, one count of unlawful assault, and one count of strangulation.
All were domestic violence offences.
Judge Gary Long sentenced him to four years’ jail.
He will be eligible for parole on July 14, 2024.
More details here.
James Scott Hayes
A man who tried to hang his pregnant partner was released immediately on parole from Gympie District Court in May 2023 after pleading guilty to strangulation, wilful damage and supplying drugs.
James Scott Hayes had been held in pre-sentence custody for 18 months after he was arrested for strangling his partner with a rope in October 2021.
His extensive criminal history, including burglary, drugs, assault and dangerous driving was discussed in court.
It heard he had started taking drugs when he was 11 after his father died, leaving his mother with seven children and had been in and out of custody as an adult.
Hayes was sentenced to 12 months jail for the charges of drug supply, with a parole date of May 3, 2023.
For the strangulation, he was given 187 days, which he had served in pre-sentence custody, with 365 days taken into account, but not declared, and a parole date of May 3, 2023.
More details here.
Jason Dylan Chilly
A young Gympie man who punched his heavily pregnant girlfriend in the stomach and face before cutting her leg was jailed for several months for his crimes.
Gympie District Court heard Jason Dylan Chilly, 21, assaulted his partner during an argument at their home on September 30, 2022.
She was 21 weeks pregnant at the time.
He later drove her to the hospital but then punched her again, this time in the face, after accusing her of contacting police.
The court was told he then cut her thigh with an unknown object while she sat crying with her eyes closed.
She was left with a wound about 8cm long and 2mm deep.
The 21-year-old pleaded guilty in May 2023 to two counts of common assault and one of wounding, all domestic violence offences.
Judge Katherine McGinnis told Chilly his actions “must have been terribly distressing (for his partner) … and you risked causing her serious harm, or harm to her unborn child”.
She sentenced Chilly to two-and-half-years’ jail, and while he had been in jail for 209 days she only declared 158 of them as time served.
He was eligible for parole on July 4, 2023.
More details here.
Leonard Daniel Weller
An 83-year-old grandfather of six was handed a jail term for the vicious bashing of his own daughter over a felled tree at a Gympie property.
Leonard Daniel Weller, of the Southside, faced Gympie Magistrates Court in custody in January 2024 as he pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm, a domestic violence offence.
Police prosecutor Mel Campbell told the court Weller had started “punching and kicking” his 59-year-old daughter in the face while she was on the ground and “unable to defend herself”.
“(The victim) did nothing to justify such a horrific assault,” Sgt Campbell said.
He was sentenced the 83-year-old to 12 months’ jail, with his release ordered on the same day due to 74 days already served in custody on remand.
His outstanding jail term was suspended for 18 months.
More details here.
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