Zade Leigh Riley in court for obstructing police, breaching bail

A Gympie region father who was ordered not to drink as a condition of being released on bail was caught twice for doing exactly that but claimed he had not done anything wrong. Read what happened in court.

A 30-year-old Cooloola Cove forestry worker has faced the Gympie court for breaching his bail conditions by getting drunk.

Zade Leigh Riley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of breaching bail conditions and one count of obstructing a police officer while intoxicated.

On December 4, 2021 police attended a Cooloola Cove house for a different matter only to find Riley encircled by empty alcohol cans, Gympie Magistrates Court heard.

He blew 0.157 after police asked him to do a breath test.

Riley told police he “didn’t think he was doing anything wrong” as he was with friends and not out causing trouble, police prosecutor Melissa Campbell said.

Zade Leigh Riley leaving Gympie Magistrates Court on September 20, 2022.

Riley was caught drinking again later that same month on New Year’s Eve.

Police saw a parked car on the side of a road in Tin Can Bay with Riley intoxicated inside that day.

He blew 0.168, more than three times the limit.

Riley was arrested but soon began to show reluctance towards police, the court heard.

He refused to step inside the pod at the back of the police car, saying he wouldn’t go inside and struggled to get away.

Riley told the court he accepted he had breached his bail conditions and believed at the time he hadn’t done anything wrong.

He said he was a full-time forestry worker with three children and worked as a firefighter with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

Riley was given 60 hours community service and a one-month suspended jail sentence.