Mackay dads sentenced in court for crimes in 2023-2024
These 15 dads learned the hard way that crime has consequences, no matter if it’s drug-driving, assault or unspeakable crimes against our most vulnerable. Warning: Distressing content.
Police & Courts
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Fathers are meant to be role models for their children and show them how to contribute positively to society.
But for these 15 dads, their actions were anything but exemplary behaviour as they came before the courts for breaking the criminal law.
From those caught drink and drug-driving to physical assaults to the more sinister crimes, here are the fathers who were sentenced before Mackay courts in the past year.
The list includes cases where convictions have been recorded and cases where no conviction has been recorded.
DRINK, DRUG, DANGEROUS DRIVING
Father of three kills another dad in horror crash
Justin Wayne Alderton, 34, broke down in tears as he apologised to his crash victim for having robbed him of his “much loved father”.
Alderton, a father of three, was sniffling as he apologised to Walter Junior in Mackay District Court, after he caused a Bruce Highway crash that killed Walter Newton, 60.
The court in September heard Alderton had been under the influence of meth and was driving dangerously for about 20 minutes before the crash near Pindi Pindi, north of Mackay.
His Holden ute swerved onto the wrong side of the road about 2.35pm on July 16, 2021, forcing two cars to take evasive action as he ploughed into a third, Mr Newton’s Ford ute.
Also in the car was Mr Newton’s 19-year-old son, Walter Junior, who suffered serious injuries and was flown to hospital.
Pleading guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm, Alderton was sentenced to six years jail with a parole eligibility date of April 30, 2025.
His licence was disqualified and convictions were recorded.
Post-fishing drinks nearly kills young dad
Father of two Dean Anthony Thompson drank four to five beers, one after another, while fishing.
He could have jumped in the passenger seat of his wife’s car to get home but instead the 47-year-old got behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Triton and kept drinking.
Seven minutes into the drive home along Hay Point Rd shortly before 6pm, Thompson looked down to change radio stations and his ute veered across double white lanes, crashing into a Holden Rodeo.
Mackay District Court heard Shannon Pacher was inside that Rodeo on June 5, 2022, his face thrust into the steering wheel as the airbags failed to deploy.
Mr Pacher suffered “catastrophic injuries” including to his chest, lungs, neck, spine, liver, knee and brain and had to undergo six “painful” surgeries while awake in the following months.
The court heard Thompson had 17 prior entries for speeding, had drunk-drove in 2003 with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15, and in late 2021, he had failed to leave his contact details after crashing into another car.
Crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland said it was clear Thompsons’ BAC of 0.109 had affected his driving as he had slurred speech when speaking to police officers at the scene following the June 5 crash.
Pleading guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance as well as possession of dangerous drugs, Thompson was sentenced to three-and-a-half years jail to be suspended after 12 months with a four year operational period.
His licence was disqualified for three years, and convictions were recorded.
Read the full story here, including Mr Pacher’s full victim’s impact statement.
ASSAULTS, THREATS TO SAFETY
School forced into lockdown
A Mackay region primary school was forced into lockdown and a father was arrested after he and his partner tried to take their own daughter against the orders of Child Safety.
The parents, who cannot be named as it would identify a child witness of crime, had attended a meeting with Child Safety officers on the morning of November 3 where they learned authorities were going to take their daughter into care.
The parents then headed to the school as Child Safety warned the school principal and enacted an order blocking the parents from access to their daughter.
Mackay Magistrates Court in March heard the parents were aggressive and angry at the school, with the mother breaking a bolt on a classroom door and the father tugging at his daughter as she sat on the teacher aide’s lap.
The parents managed to get her and left the school only for the police to arrest them on the highway shortly after.
The father pleaded guilty to wilfully disturbing the good order of management of a state educational institution and was fined $750, with a conviction recorded.
Dad assaults mate of 20 years with spiked timber plank
A Sarina father of three who was offered a home with a mate of 20 years after his release from jail exploded in anger one day after a fight, bashing his long-term friend with a spiked wooden plank.
Anthony Troy Deller’s spur of the moment violence on November 19, 2023 left his victim with cuts, puncture wounds and a fractured elbow.
Mackay Magistrates Court in May heard Deller, 33, had been staying at his victim’s home after getting parole, but their relationship had strained after he went missing for two weeks and failed to pay rent.
It was after being told to “pack up your sh*t and leave” that Deller grabbed a 1m long piece of timber with “several nails sticking out of it” and “forcibly swung” it towards his victim’s head.
Deller pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and was jailed for 18 months, which was cumulative to the jail term he was already serving, with a parole eligibility date of June 1, 2024.
A conviction was recorded and 90 days of pre-sentence custody was declared as time already served.
Serial pest threatens to bite officer’s c**k off
Brian John Darby, 47, threatened to bite a officer’s “c**k off” before spitting at police.
A Mackay court heard police officers had responded to a domestic disturbance on October 17 following reports a duo were threatening each other with knives.
The court heard Darby was aggressive to police, refused to give officers his name, with this just the most recent example of anti-social behaviour which littered the father’s criminal history for more than 25 years.
Pleading guilty to assault and obstruct police, contravene a requirement of police, and breaching probation, Darby was fined $700 and jailed for three months to be suspended for 12 months.
Convictions were recorded.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Dad threatens to kill own daughter
A young dad threatened to kill his former partner and their daughter if he was denied parental access, Mackay Magistrates Court heard.
The 21-year-old father, who legally can’t be named as it would identify the mother and victim of a protection order breach, had been released on parole only three months before he was once again violent towards the mother of his child.
She was lying down when he pulled her from the bed, leaving her with bruises and scratches on her breasts on March 4.
Nine days later he barraged her with threatening texts and calls for an hour.
The messages included: “I’ll kill you c***”, “I’m coming for you”, “You’re going to see dangerous”, “I’m coming to cut your head off”, “I’ll hang the c*** on your mother’s fence”, “I’ll sign your death certificate” and “I’m not scared of cops”.
The court further heard he also threatened to kill their daughter if the mother prevented him from seeing her.
Pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence) and contravention of a domestic violence order (aggravated), the man was sentenced to eight months jail, wholly-suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to serve the remainder of his previous jail sentence which expires on July 3.
Convictions were recorded.
Air tags sewn in bunnies to track ex
“Extremely extreme” and “sinister” was how a magistrate described the actions of a Sarina father who gave his two young children soft toys with AirTags sewn in after another was found in his ex-partner’s car.
The man, who legally cannot be named, separated from his partner and shares custody of their kids, Sarina Magistrates Court heard in December.
Police prosecutor Sheena Gravino said the man had no prior criminal history and his offending was revealed after a routine handover of the children in June.
The court heard the children’s mother heard an unfamiliar beep in her car and recalling her ex had said the stuffed bunnies were to be hand washed, felt a “small round object in the neck”.
The father pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence protection order and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a 12 month good behaviour bond.
A conviction was not recorded.
Dad chokes children’s mother, calls her a ‘hooker’
Father-of-two Steven Ian Maes posted a nude photograph of the mother of his children to Facebook just hours before he viciously choked her.
Mackay District Court heard Maes was banned from going near the home of his former de facto partner of 10 years, the mother of his two children aged four and 10.
Early on New Year’s Day, the 32 year old sent her numerous “disgusting and derogatory” texts and uploaded a photo to Facebook, calling her a “hooker with hepatitis C” and then went to her North Mackay unit where he was found “lurking” outside.
He then gained entry, accused her of cheating, and with his palm slapped his victim before grabbing her throat, pushing her against the window and choking her.
Mae pleaded guilty to three contraventions of a domestic violence order; common assault (domestic violence); choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic relationship; and distributing intimate images (domestic violence).
He was sentenced to two years and nine months’ jail, with 291 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time already served.
Convictions were recorded.
Threats to smash partner’s “head in”
Former mining superintendent Brett Robert Hudson threatened to beat his partner before using an axe to break through a window.
Mackay Magistrates Court heard the Clermont-born father of three teenage children grabbed his partner’s throat, said “I should have smashed your fu**ing head in” and then threw her on the bed and covered her mouth at an Andergrove home on October 10.
The court their relationship ended seven days later on October 17 but on October 18, Hudson arrived home early from the mines and banged on the glass door to be let in but she told him “she did not feel safe”.
Prosecutor Leonie Taufa’ao said Hudson then used an axe to smash through a glass window as he had gastroenteritis and had to use the toilet.
The 44 year old then threw his former partner’s clothes around after discovering his own had been “packed up”.
He pleaded guilty to wilful damage and was fined $1500.
Convictions were not recorded.
A domestic violence offender with an ‘unimpressive history’
Aaron Leigh Barba was freed from jail just in time to celebrate his youngest’s first birthday after he kicked his girlfriend and punched her ribs.
The 42 year old faced Mackay Magistrates Court for what was his 12th contravention of a domestic violence order on January 21.
Acting magistrate Paul Byrne said Barba had an “unimpressive history” which included threatening a different partner with a broken piece of wood from a bed in 2019.
Barba — who pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence), contravention of a domestic violence order, and wilful damage (domestic violence) — was sentenced to nine months’ jail with an immediate parole release date, with 67 days of presentence custody declared as time already served.
Convictions were recorded.
Read the full story here.
CHILD SEX OFFENCES
‘Predatory’ behaviour on mate’s daughter
Whitsunday region father of two Dean Henry Irvine was drunk when he molested his mate’s teenage daughter late one night in mid-2022.
Mackay District Court heard the 30 year old groped the girl’s breast and touched her buttocks, and told her the “best porn was on Facebook”.
Irvine pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent treatment of a child.
Judge Suzanne Sheridan said he had shown “predatory” behaviour in waiting until the victim’s father had gone to bed to return to the home before sentencing him to an 18-months suspended jail sentence after serving two months behind bars.
Convictions were recorded and he will be a registered child sex offender for five years.
Convicted child sex offender fails to report
Mackay dad Andrew Karl Matthies found himself before Mackay District Court on August 10, 2023 after he failed to report as required under the Child Protection Act, breaching a suspended sentence.
Matthies became a registered child sex offender in 2018 after he was found with more than 220 different videos of child exploitation material, including of toddlers being raped, at his home in the Sunshine Coast and Kunda Park work shed.
Pleading guilty to failing to report, Matthies’ had the operational period of his suspended sentence extended by one month.
A conviction had been recorded against his original 12 month jail sentence which had been suspended for four years.
Dad rapes daughter over five years
A monster father was jailed for nine-and-a-half years for the violent sexual abuse of his own daughter that included holding his hand over her mouth to “mute her screams” as he raped her.
The horror crimes, revealed in Mackay District Court in May, began when she was just 10 years old, continuing over five or six years up to 2021.
He even attacked her as she recovered from surgery.
Crown Prosecutor Matthew Sutton said the man only stopped raping his daughter at their home in the Mackay region after she went to police.
His vile conduct included threatening to kill her if she told anyone, holding his hand over her mouth “to attempt to mute her screams” as he anally raped her, and telling her to “shut up when she commenced crying from the pain” during a different rape.
The 52 year old pleaded guilty to eight counts of rape and one count each of assault with intent to commit rape and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.
Judge Burnett jailed him for 9.5 years but opted against setting a parole eligibility date or an SVO.
The man will have to serve half the term before he can make a freedom bid and since he has already spent 636 days in presentence custody, he will be eligible for parole in May 2026.
He will also be a registered child sex offender, and convictions were recorded.
Married dad sends nude video to 15yo girl
Married man and father-of-three Stephen Michael Sidney Tilbrook blamed his binge drinking when pleading guilty to sending a nude video to a 15-year-old girl.
The teenager was walking home from school on July 14, 2022 when she received a Snapchat from Tilbrook asking how her day was, Mackay District Court heard.
The 45 year old then sent her a video of himself masturbating and told her not to tell anyone.
The court heard Tilbrook told police he was “extremely intoxicated” at the time.
He pleaded guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 16 and was sentenced to two years probation, with convictions not recorded.
BESTIALITY
Dad has sex with dog
A Mackay father of three who filmed himself violating a dog and then sent the vile video to a random teenage girl over social media cried loudly in court as his ‘repulsive’ act was laid bare.
Victor James Tetley, 36, tried to shield his face with his hat as he hurried from Mackay courthouse after details of his “repulsive” conduct was revealed in February.
Rhen 34, he had sex with a dog on September, 15 2022 – his excuse was that he was going through a rough time and had been drinking.
Two months later he sent a video he had taken of the act to a 19-year-old woman he did not know but had been speaking to over Snapchat for a couple of days.
She then informed NSW police who in turn told Queensland police which led to Tetley’s arrest.
Pleading guilty to bestiality, Tetley was sentenced to two years probation and a conviction was not recorded.
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