Barbara Twaddle fronts court over family feud mob fight at Woorabinda

Police responding to a nearby call-out suddenly found themselves under attack and in the middle of a volatile brawl between feuding families outside a Qld daycare centre.

Woorabinda police were heavily outnumbered when a volatile brawl between feuding families broke out in the remote Indigenous community. Photo: Geordi Offord

An “extremely loud disturbance” drew police in a remote Qld Aboriginal community to an out-of-control brawl between feuding families.

Outside a daycare centre, an angry mob of 120 people, some armed with sticks, shovels and other weapons lined up alongside cars and surrounded a physical fight in the middle of suburban street.

Soon, the crowd was turning on the officers, who had been responding to an unrelated nearby call-out.

So volatile was the situation, heavily outnumbered police had to “tactically withdraw with the aid of other members of the public stepping in to stop assaults on them and restraining some people”, Rockhampton Magistrates Court heard.

Police prosecutor Mirren Smith said the group which ranged from young children to senior citizens were there for the fight which Barbara Twaddle, 28, was engaged in on April 13 about 5.30pm on Carbine Street in Woorabinda.

She said police were 50 metres away in Rankin Street when they came across “an extremely loud disturbance” on the roadway and footpath directly in front of the daycare centre.

“(The police) were locked from proceeding on the roadways (to the fight) due to the sheer volume of the crowd forming,” she said.

“Police made attempts to get between the two rival families and warned them to leave, otherwise they will be arrested.

“Police spoke with the defendant who stated ‘well, this is what’s going to keep on happening. You deal with it your way but we’re going to deal with it our f***ing way’.

“A co-offender then approached and used a shovel to assault another person.”

Ms Smith said police took both the co-offender and the victim immediately into custody and Twaddle “rushed at other co-offenders, throwing punches aggressively”.

The Welcome to Woorabinda sign in the remote Indigenous community. Photo: Geordi Offord

She said the fight was between feuding families and Twaddle was seen stomping on people who were on the ground before she was removed from the fight by a witness, however, managed to re-engage in another fight for a full minute.

The court heard young children were screaming in fear and the entire crowd was following the fight and Twaddle and co-offenders constantly yelled derogatory comments such as “f*** me”, “c***sucker” and “mother f***er”.

As police attempted to put one of the mob in the back of a police vehicle, Twaddle and others surrounded police as she pointed at an officer and said, “F *** you sucker, I’ll smash you right up”.

“The defendant was jumping up and down in front of police, repeatedly yelling (those words),” she said.

“Another co-offender, unprovoked, picked up a stick and struck another person over the head.

Ms Smith said police immediately took that person into custody.

“This is when (Twaddle) has then picked up the stick and used it to strike another co-offender while police already had them restrained and in custody,” she said.

“The stick was about a metre and a half long and about four centimetre in diameter.

“Police attempted to tactically withdraw from the incident due to the volatility and how outnumbered police were.”

The court heard Twaddle used the stick and held it up over her shoulders towards a police officer and screamed incoherent threats.

The officer was forced to place her hands above her face and use capsicum spray to prevent being assaulted.

Ms Smith said Twaddle turned her attention to another officer, holding the stick behind her head with two hands “actively swinging it with force at him”.

She said this officer closed the distance between him and Twaddle to prevent her from using it to assault him and another member of the public “had to step in to prevent the assault being carried out”.

Twaddle was restrained, allowing police to get out.

Ms Smith said Twaddle later told police she had been drinking alcohol continuously for two days prior.

She’d been at a family party when she was told about an earlier assault on her brothers and she went to confront the “other co-offenders”.

“The defendant admitted to being actively involved in several different fights with several different people,” Ms Smith said, adding Twaddle “apologised for her behaviour” and told police “what I did was wrong, how I reacted yesterday. I flipped out and couldn’t control myself”.

Defence lawyer Teaghan Bankier said her client, a mother-of-three, had been exposed to violence during her childhood.

Police had also intercepted Twaddle driving a Nissan Pathfinder on Rankin Street, Woorabinda, on November 5 and discovered she’d never held a driver's licence.

“The defendant said she was just going for a cruise,” Ms Smith said.

Twaddle, 28, pleaded guilty on April 15 to one count of affray in a public place, two of serious assault of a police officer, one of drive a vehicle having never held a licence and one of failing to appear in court.

Magistrate Lance Rundle sentenced Twaddle to 12 months’ jail with immediate parole release, along with 80 hours community service.

She must pay $700 in fines and $1000 in compensation to the police officers and is disqualified from driving for three months.

Convictions were recorded for all offences.