Top 10: Most read Rockhampton court stories in 2021
As the year comes to an end, we look back at the Rockhampton court stories that had the most views from you, our readers.
Police & Courts
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After Covid-19’s disruptions to court proceedings in 2020, Rockhampton Courthouse has been busier than ever this year catching up on matters impacted by lockdowns across the country.
With 2021 coming to an end, we look back at the stories that our readership data shows captured the attention of our audiences the most.
Here is the top 10:
10. Cops daughter, teen soccer star busted supplying meth
The daughter of two police officers, who played soccer for Queensland and was a school captain, used encrypted apps to organise supplying meth to “customers”. But it didn’t stop police from uncovering her dirty deals. Christy Lee Phillips pleaded guilty on September 3 in Rockhampton District Court to three counts of supplying a dangerous drug. She was placed on an 18-month probation order with no convictions recorded.
Read more here: Daughter of two police officers used encrypted apps and Facebook messenger to discuss supplying meth
9. Rugby league player jailed for unprotected sex with teen girl
There was a 14-year age difference when Edgar Michael Lawrence Cowell had sex with the teen who was 15 at the time of the offences which took place in 2018. Cowell, 32, pleaded guilty on September 3 in Rockhampton District Court to two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge. Cowell was sentenced to 18 months’ prison, wholly suspended and operational for 18 months. He is now a reportable sex offender.
Read more here: A rugby league player has been jailed for having unprotected sex with an underage girl three times
8. Rhys Yore: Yeppoon teen’s mum Mandy Yore speaks at sentencing of Owen Andrew Dendle
Yeppoon teenager Rhys Yore’s mother spoke during the sentencing of the driver who caused the crash which killed the much-loved St Brendan’s College student. In September, Dendle 18, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ jail suspended after 12 months, after pleading guilty in Rockhampton District Court to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death while excessively speeding. Read more here:
7. Shane Yore speaks about being at the scene of the car crash which killed his St Brendan’s College Yeppoon student Rhys
The father of Yeppoon teen Rhys Yore revealed the absolute devastation of arriving at the scene of the crash that killed his son. Read that story here: Rhys’s dad “broken, broken beyond belief.”
6. Family’s crash terror: Young driver Azeem Raymond Gamble was airborne at speed when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed
A young driver travelling at speed en route to Yeppoon lost control of his vehicle and crashed into two traffic islands, narrowly missing a car carrying a family. Azeem Raymond Gamble, 23, pleaded guilty in Yeppoon Magistrates Court on September 30 to a charge of driving without due care and attention. Gamble was fined $600 and disqualified from driving for three months. A traffic conviction was recorded. Read this story here: “I thought it was an overtaking lane.
5. Chilling words: What teen driver said to Rhys Yore before fatal crash
The moments leading up to a horrific car crash at Yeppoon that killed a popular St Brendan’s College student were revealed for the first time during the sentencing of the driver who caused the fatal crash: the defendant said: ‘Are you ready Rhys?’
4. ‘Born out of greed’: Hairdresser torches own home for payout
A “cunning” Queensland business owner and mother of five was jailed over a house fire she lit after doing a 10-hour round trip to Central Queensland and back. Kerry Lyn Falk, 50, pleaded guilty on October 5 in Rockhampton District Court to one count each of arson, attempted fraud over $100,000 and perverting the course of justice. She was sentenced to five years’ prison, suspended after 20 months and operational for five years. Read the story here: Hairdresser jailed for arson and attempted fraud over Stanwell house fire
3. ‘Monster’ jailed for life: Chilling new details reveal ‘cold, cruel’ DV murder
Karen Gilliland’s family organised a rental property for her to escape her violent husband. Less than two months later it would be the scene of her brutal death. Nigel John Gilliland, 46, pleaded guilty to murder (domestic violence) on August 30, 2021, in Rockhampton Supreme Court. Gilliland was sentenced to life in prison which has a legislated minimum non-parole period of 20 years. Read about the impact of Karen’s brutal murder by her husband Nigel, on her family, including her children, here: “You are a cold and cruel murderer”: Husband of 20 years killed Karen
2. “I didn’t want to live without him”: Fiancee, family’s trauma as young life cut short
Nathanael Patson, who was killed in a head-on car crash on the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road, left a gaping hole in the hearts of his family members and fiancee. They spoke with The Morning Bulletin after the at-fault driver, Lochie John Taylor, was sentenced to three years and three months’ prison, suspended after serving eight months, and operational for five years, after he pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and drug-driving. Read the story here: “the trauma of losing my fiancee is something that constantly haunts me”
1. Life in prison sentences for man, woman who carried out 234 child sex crimes in five years
A Queensland couple’s offending was described by a judge as five times worse than a convicted paedophile jailed for shocking abuse in Thailand. The man and woman faced more than 250 charges. The woman, 40, and the man, 36, who was already sexually abusing his sons and niece, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton in October to more than 250 charges for 234 crimes. Both were handed life in prison sentences.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: One of the state’s most ‘horrendous’ child sex crimes of which the details left courtroom witnesses sobbing
Woman’s head ‘hit the concrete’ after man’s pub punch
A Central Queensland man has learned his fate after he punched a woman in the mouth at a pub, causing her to fall and hit her head on the concrete.
Named: Man charged over alleged random drive-by shooting
The identity of a man charged after a gunshot was allegedly fired at a vehicle in Central Queensland during a drive-by incident, can be revealed.