Bundamba salesman Kyle Lars Hirst sentenced for violent attack on landlord

A court has heard how an Ipswich couple brutally beat a landlord for demanding payment and trashed his rental in a “grotesque” display of immaturity.

Kyle Lars Hirst (left) and Rachel Elise Roeseler (right) leaving the Ipswich Courthouse. Picture: Nicola McNamara

An Ipswich furniture salesman broke a landlord’s jaw for asking his girlfriend’s mum to settle her debt, a court has heard.

Bundamba salesman Kyle Lars Hirst, 28, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on December 20 to assault occasioning bodily harm in company.

The court heard Hirst, along with his girlfriend at the time Rachel Roeseler, intervened in a rental dispute between Roeseler’s mum and her landlord.

Crown prosecutor Robyn Schermer said Roeseler’s mum, who wasn’t charged with any wrongdoing, had been struggling to pay rent on a railway carriage she had been renting out in Brightview and the landlord was demanding payment.

Ms Schermer said Hirst called the landlord on November 27, 2021, and told him he wanted to sort out the dispute but the landlord said he wasn’t interested.

Later that evening, both Hirst and Roeseler drove to the rental in Brightview, along with two unidentified individuals.

Ms Schermer said the group entered the carriage, threw food around, and knocked a table over.

They further damaged a couch and air conditioner – all while Roeseler was filming on her phone.

Another tenant notified the landlord, who came to investigate the disturbance.

Hirst confronted the landlord and repeatedly punched him in the head and face while he was still sitting in his car.

Kyle Lars Hirst leaving the Ipswich Courthouse on December 20. Picture: Nicola McNamara

The court heard Roeseler then entered the passenger door and slapped and hit him from the other side.

Ms Schermer said their “retribution” continued for around five minutes before Roeseler and Hirst fled the scene.

The landlord suffered a broken jaw and could only eat soft foods for the next six weeks.

His car’s side mirror and windscreen wipers were also damaged during the assault.

Roeseler fronted the Ipswich Magistrate’s Court in November and pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in company and wilful damage.

She received a sentence of 16 months imprisonment, wholly suspended for two years.

The court heard at that time the couple had since broken up and Roeseler had moved to the Northern Territory to reform herself as a youth worker.

Rachel Elise Roeseler, 26, leaving Ipswich Magistrates Court on November 4, 2022. Picture: Nicola McNamara

At Hirst’s sentencing, his lawyer Alex Jones noted his client had already served 159 days of presentence custody.

He said Hirst had struggled in custody, as he had suffered the loss of both legs in a horrific car accident, and only had access to temporary prosthetics and eventually a wheelchair.

“He was effectively forced to crawl around on the floor to and from his bed,” Mr Jones said.

Mr Jones said Hirst had also struggled with drug use in the past but had effectively “rehabilitated himself” in recent years.

Magistrate Kathleen Payne acknowledged Hirst’s struggles in custody but emphasised the seriousness of his offending.

“It’s quite shocking behaviour that you’ve sought to take the law into your own hands in a civilised society,” she said.

Ms Payne said the fact Roeseler was filming inside the railway carriage suggested a level of “immaturity” and “grotesqueness” to the offending.

“This is what we expect 12 year olds to do,” she said.

Ms Payne said Hirst’s offending was aggravated by his criminal history, which included violent and drug-related offending.

She also noted this latest offending was in breach of a 2021 probation order for going armed so as to cause fear and obstructing police.

Hirst was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, with immediate parole release and his 159 days of presentence custody declared time served.

He was further sentenced to a $500 fine for each of the offences he had breached the probation order for.