Tyrone James Speechley: Charges dropped against dangerous sex offender

Lawyers acting for a dangerous sex offender hope to “get the ball rolling” for his freedom after prosecutors dropped charges that have seen him held in custody for more than three years.

A dangerous sex offender may soon walk free after spending more than three years on remand after prosecutors withdrew all but one charge against him.

Tyrone James Speechley, 35, faced the Ipswich District Court on Wednesday where prosecutors asked the court to dismiss 10 charges.

The North Queensland man has been held in custody since August 23, 2019, when he was arrested by police and charged over the now-withdrawn allegations.

The court heard he was declared a dangerous sex offender more than a decade ago after a string of offending including against a young girl.

In court, Speechley pleaded guilty on a new indictment of assault occasioning bodily harm over a January 2019 incident where he repeatedly punched a woman while in the Ipswich area.

Crown prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said Speechley was “provoked” into the assault by the woman who had hit him multiple times before his “disproportionate response”.

“It would have been an upsetting incident for the complainant,” he said.

“The harm would have gone beyond the physical injuries.”

Defence barrister Jakub Lodziak told the court the sentencing exercise would be an “unusual one” because Speechley had served “well in excess” of a normal sentence for the offence.

He said his client was detained under Dangerous Prisoner legislation and would be for the “foreseeable future”.

“Now this is over we can at least get the ball rolling,” Mr Lodziak said.

Speechley was convicted and sentenced to no further punishment by Judge John Allen KC.

“Those other charges were dismissed this morning by the crown,” he said.

“You have been remanded for more than three years. That is well in excess of any sentence you would normally receive.”