‘Hope you know how to swallow a bullet, b----!’: Gregory Stevan Dow’s terrible statement to a hospital staffer in a Covid vaccine blow-up

A Yeppoon man made a shocking threat to a Capricorn Coast Hospital staffer after becoming angry at not being able to get a Covid vaccine.

Gregory Stevan Dow, photographed by The Morning Bulletin in 2013.

“I hope you know how to swallow a bullet, b----!”

That is what Yeppoon resident Gregory Stevan Dow said on the phone to a Capricorn Coast Hospital admin worker after he became angry at not being able to get a Covid vaccine.

The 58 year old pleaded guilty in Yeppoon Magistrates Court on October 7 to using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.

The court heard that on September 18, Dow phoned the hospital and spoke with an administration officer.

Police Prosecutor Clancy Fox said during the phone call, Dow was “very rude and intimidating” and he swore at the staffer.

“He was swearing, stating things like ‘There is no f---ing trains or buses that I can catch and I have no f---ing car.’

“He also said ‘What is that f---ing Yeppoon hospital about?’”

Gregory "Steve" Dow pleaded guilty in court.

Mr Fox said because Dow was being abusive, the staff member on the phone hung up on him.

Two minutes later, Dow rang back.

He was warned that if he continued to swear and be abusive, the call would be terminated.

Dow started swearing, saying “f---” often and used a raised voice when the hospital staffer again terminated the call.

One minute later, Dow phoned back.

This time he said to the hospital staffer: “I hope you know how to swallow a bullet, b----!” before he hung up.

Police were able to identify Dow as he had used his mobile phone to make the call and the following day they went to his residence and spoke to him.

Dow admitted to making the calls and to making the comment about swallowing the bullet.

He told police he was angry because he could not get his Covid vaccination at the Yeppoon hospital on that day.

Gregory Stevan Dow, photographed by The Morning Bulletin in 2013.

Dow’s solicitor said Dow, a disability pensioner, accepted the facts and on the day of his offending he was desperate to get the Covid vaccine.

“He was of the understanding that on this particular weekend the Premier had announced that the public could walk into any hospital to get the vaccine, and he contacted the hospital for that purpose,” Dow’s solicitor said.

“He accepts that he should not have reacted as he did.

“He had made, prior to that, numerous enquiries to get the vaccine but he hasn’t been able to.”

The court was told that Dow wanted to get the vaccination because of medical conditions including Parkinson’s disease which he’d had for more than a decade.

“His instructions are that the Parkinson’s diagnosis has caused his heart to shut down,” the solicitor said.

“He was incredibly frustrated with them (hospital) and accepts that he lost it and he shouldn’t have.”

Magistrate Jason Schubert noted Dow’s early guilty plea for this offence but said his criminal history was “concerning”.

Dow had previously breached peace and good behaviour orders twice, failed to appear in court, been convicted of improper use of an emergency call service, breached a suspended jail term, and been convicted of a stealing charge which related to him obtaining a job search allowance greater than he was entitled to by not disclosing his earnings.

In relation to his latest offence, Mr Schubert said Dow’s response was “completely disproportionate” to his concern.

“You, after swearing on numerous occasions, having been hung up on - and appropriately so by the administrative officer - you then went on to say something about her having to know how to swallow a bullet, b---,” Mr Schubert said.

“That is awful.

“It would have placed her at some fear.”

Mr Schubert said he needed a sentence that deterred Dow and offered him some prospects of rehabilitation.

He placed Dow on 12 months’ probation with conditions including he attend an anger management course.

Convictions were recorded.