Shane Colin Rainbow pleads guilty to breaching his unpaid community service order

A magistrate has lashed a father of two for failing to complete “the most basic” of community service tasks and blaming it on being a shift worker. DETAILS.

Shane Colin Rainbow has been slammed for failing to complete his unpaid community service which amount to making bracelets.

A Mackay father of two who failed to complete “the most basic of jobs” as punishment for an Australia Day drunken outburst has been stung with a huge fine.

All Shane Colin Rainbow had to do for his unpaid community service was make bracelets for 60 hours.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard on January 26, 2024 he had been yelling with another group before yelling and abusing police when they became involved.

When told to stop he pushed an officer in the chest and when Rainbow was told he would be arrested he ran away.
As a result he faced several charges including being a public nuisance and obstruct police while intoxicated and in a public place.

Rainbow was told to complete 60 hours unpaid community service, which Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said should have been 80 hours, and convictions were not recorded.

The court heard he only completed 24.5 hours, with another 35.5 hours still to complete.

ATSILS solicitor Robyn Cathcart said her client had shift work but Ms Hartigan did not accept that as a reason the hours were not completed.

“You were given the most basic of jobs, you could given them to your two year old and your two year old would have been able to complete those bracelets,” Ms Hartigan said.

“You weren’t asked to do anything onerous whatsoever and I don’t accept that shift work would interfere with you making bracelets.

“Or that making bracelets would get on top of you. Many people go to work, do chores and they have a four and a two year old and they do shift work.

“So I find that you incompletion of this community service is really quite frankly despicable.

“It was an order of the court. It was mandatory, it’s not a choice, it’s a punishment and you blew it. So it’s a complete failure by you.”

Ms Hartigcan said Rainbow and his family would now “bear the brunt” of a large fine.

“But that’s your own fault,” Ms Hartigan said.

She refused to impose a community based order saying Rainbow was incapable of completing the most basic of jobs.

Rainbow pleaded guilty to breaching a community service order, was resentenced for all offending and fined a total of $2000 “for not making what would probably have been only a few more bracelets”.

A conviction was also recorded for breaching the community service order, but not for the other offences.