Matthew Luke Mason sentenced for public masturbation in Mackay

A man pleading guilty to masturbating on a Central Queensland town’s main street, offending two women on their way to work, earned himself another day in lockup for his courtroom antics.

A man pleading guilty to masturbating on a Central Queensland town’s main street, offending two women on their way to work, earned himself another day in lockup for his courtroom antics.

A Queensland man who admitted to touching himself in full view of his town’s main street recklessly interrupted his own sentence when nature called.

Police prosecutor Kay Cora was in the middle of her submissions on Monday when Matthew Luke Mason interrupted, asking “can you give me my sentence so I can go to the toilet?”

Yet when Mackay magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said it would be in his best interest to wait, he retorted “no, I don’t have to wait, I’ve to pee”.

Mason’s matters had been stood down from earlier in the day after a similar outburst, with Ms Hartigan noting should he delay the matters he could serve two extra weeks in the watch-house.

“Well, we’re doing you a favour by doing it this afternoon, so that’s okay ... if you want to go and urinate, no problem, we’ll put you on when we have a long plea date on September 19,” Ms Hartigan said.

“So you can make up your mind, do you want to go to the toilet or do you want to keep going?”

“I want to get to the toilet,” Mason answered.

His sentence was adjourned part heard to Wednesday and Mason spent two extra nights in the watchouse.

On Monday Ms Cora had described how on August 8, 2024, Mason was reported as publicly masturbating by two different women heading to work.

“The victim has remained immediately outside her workplace and observed the defendant walk a short distance ... stopped, and removed his penis from his pants ... pulled down slightly,” she said.

“(She) observed the defendant to use his right hand to stroke his flaccid penis repeatedly for two to three minutes.

“The victim has continued to witness the defendant stroking his penis and felt disgusted by the behaviour ... calling police a short time later.”

The court heard Mason had a criminal history spanning at least 10 pages, with previous charges of indecent acts in public.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent acts in a public place and, when he returned to court on Wednesday, a more subdued Mason quietly accepted his sentence.

Ms Hartigan sentenced him to 27 days imprisonment, with his pre-sentence custody deemed as time served with immediate release.

“I consider 27 days to be enough and that is an adequate punishment,” she said.

“I hope we don’t see you again.”