Police investigate two assaults at Gympie Bull n Bronc 2025
Gympie police have confirmed a second investigation is underway after at least two people were bashed, spat on and even bitten by a “horde” of teenagers in separate incidents at the annual Bull n Bronc rodeo.
Police & Courts
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Police are calling for witnesses to a second assault at Gympie’s popular Bull n Bronc Rodeo, with investigations now underway after a 19-year-old suffered injuries in an attack at the event.
Police on Tuesday, February 25, urged anyone with information about the attack on the young man, which happened about 8pm on Saturday, February 15, to come forward.
It follows an ongoing investigation into the bashing of a 15-year-old girl, allegedly at the hands of another girl, at the event on the same night by what has been described by some witnesses as a group of teenage “eshays”.
The girl was bashed and reportedly bitten in the public toilets near the car park at the Showgrounds, and the young man attacked, spat on and chased in the same vicinity by a group of 10-20 teenagers described as “eshays” who were also reportedly drinking alcohol.
One witness who asked to not be named said the group appeared to be “typical eshays”, wearing “bum bags”, with “ratty hairstyles” and trying to steal her boyfriend’s shoes.
Hundreds if not thousands of people attend the Bull n Bronc every year in Gympie.
The witness who was reportedly with one of the people attacked said she had helped man the gate for several hours that day, and that she and the 19-year-old victim were walking back to their car about 8pm when they saw a teenage girl come “racing” out of the toilet block followed by “a horde of teenagers” aged between 15 and 17.
There were about 10 of them and they appeared to be drinking alcohol out of glass bottles, she said.
When the 19-year-old man said something like “what’s going on? I hope that girl’s OK”, one of the group started walking towards them.
“We went to leave,” she said.
“We were about 10 steps away from our car when they came back and were harassing us – they were going after ‘John’ (not his real name).”
One of the group threw a punch and knocked “John” out.
“They were trying to separate us. They were smashing him in the head, then they had him up against the toilets and were trying to take his shoes off.
“A lot of them had their phones out and were laughing and filming what was happening. They were also spitting big globs of phlegm on ‘John’.
“In the end I had ‘John’ in a kind of headlock to try to protect his head.
“It was horrific. There was no security, no lights and no cameras.”
It was then that someone the woman knew pulled into the car park.
“I just started yelling at him to please help us. I was crying. ‘John’ was bleeding.”
All three immediately got into the woman’s cousin’s car.
Another friend eventually drove the couple to hospital.
“I still just don’t know why they did it,” the woman said.
A QPS spokesman said two days after the event police were investigating “reports of an assault in Southside on February 15”.
“Investigations indicate a teenage girl was assaulted by another teenage girl in a toilet block on Exhibition Road around 8.10pm and received non-life-threatening injuries,” they said.
“Investigations are ongoing.
“Anyone who witnessed the reported incident or has information that may assist investigations is urged to contact police.”
A media statement released Tuesday, February 25, confirmed their investigations into the second attack.
They were appealing for any witnesses at the event between 7pm and 9pm to come forward.