Mark William Stenhouse guilty of assaulting Gympie employer over wages
Claiming almost $4000 in unpaid wages, a Noosa golf instructor-turned tradie made a decision which left him even more out of pocket.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Warana tradie and golfer who claims to be owed $3800 by his employer in unpaid wages chose to pursue his grievance by attacking and threatening the man.
Now he not only has to pay his victim, but he must also do another 160 hours’ work for free.
Mark William Stenhouse faced Gympie Magistrates Court Tuesday over the July 2024 assault and threats which left the man with a swollen and cut lip.
Police prosecutor Melissa Campbell said during the attack, 46-year-old Stenhouse charged the man while he was holding his phone, forcing the device to be smashed into his face and causing the injuries.
A week later Stenhouse called the man while he was at work and threatened him, telling him he was a “dead man walking”.
Stenhouse’s lawyer Jacob Pruden told the court his client’s actions stemmed from a family feud during Covid.
The court heard he had moved to Victoria at his brother’s invitation to help at a caravan park he ran and ostensibly be trained as its manager.
After about two months of doing unpaid work as part of this “training” his brother decided having more family involved in the caravan park was not ideal and reneged on the promise.
The court heard it was against this background Stenhouse had attacked his employer, whom he had known for six years and previously worked with.
Stenhouse claimed he was owed $3800 for work he had done across a seven-week stretch refurbishing caravans.
“He felt it was a betrayal,” Mr Pruden said.
Mr Pruden said Stenhouse’s work career included refurbishing cars and he had been employed for a time at a Noosa resort’s golf pro shop and been giving golf lessons to other players and children.
Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Stenhouse there were avenues to pursue claims of unpaid work, and violence was not among them.
“You should have been here with me in my civil jurisdiction, not … my criminal jurisdiction,” Mr Hughes said.
Stenhouse pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and using a carriage service to threaten and harass.
He was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, fined $500, and ordered to pay $800 in compensation to his victim.
A conviction was recorded for the charge of using the phone to threaten and harass, but not for the assault.
Named: Man fighting for life after shooting identified
A young man rushed to hospital with serious injuries has been identified after the second shooting on the Fraser Coast in a week.
‘Code black’: Patient’s meltdown puts hospital in lockdown
Paramedics were forced to lock themselves in ambulances and a doctor rushed to block a scissors tray as a patient on meth “lost the plot” in a Qld emergency department.