Tyson Harrison-Smith sentenced for meth possession

A meth user arrested by police was captured on CCTV doing something shocking with a special watchhouse smock. Read what it was.

Tyson Phillip Sean Harrison-Smith, 25, spent time in the Rockhampton watchhouse after a foot chase with police on December 30 and front Rockhampton Magistrates Court facing 13 charges on December 31.

A meth user who racked up multiple charges over many months and led police on a foot chase before the New Year violently resisted arrest on two occasions and carried out a bizarre act in the watchhouse after one arrest.

Tyson Phillip Sean Harrison-Smith, 25, spent time in the Rockhampton watchhouse after a foot chase with police on December 30 and front Rockhampton Magistrates Court facing 13 charges on December 31.

Police prosecutor Claudia Neil-Ballantine said police were called to a Nambour residence where Harrison-Smith was outside interacting with people through a shut glass door of a dwelling on August 29.

The court heard Harrison-Smith told police he was there to collect his belongings.

She said police told him to move away from the front door to speak with him about the matter but he refused twice before being arrested.

“After being placed in handcuffs, the defendant began to resist... (he) dropped his weight and began aggressively resisting officers from the grounds as they restrained him,” Ms Neil-Ballantine said.

She said Harrison-Smith was placed into pod of a police vehicle and kicked the walls, smashing the rear glass window of the cabin of the vehicle.

Ms Neil-Ballantine said it was taken to the nearby watchhouse and while in custody, he was placed in a suicide prevention smock and placed in a padded cell.

She said Harrison-Smith damaged the smock by removing the inner stuffing and eating it, which was captured on CCTV.

He was later released on bail.

Ms Neil-Ballantine said while he was at his mother’s house on November 16, as she tried to call police during a verbal argument, Harrison-Smith hit the landline wall-mounted phone, damaging the phone and the wall behind it.

“The defendant has then kicked a hole in the wall in the hallway and has punched a further two holes in the walls in his bedroom and the kitchen,” Ms Neil-Ballantine said.

She said police attended and Harrison-Smith was argumentative and belligerent towards police, resulting in him being arrested.

Ms Neil-Ballantine said during his arrest, Harrison-Smith has “dropped down and refused to walk” and was warned he was obstructing police.

She said he continued to resist and as they manoeuvred him into the back of the police vehicle Harrison-Smith has “grabbed onto and squeezed the genitals” of one of the male officers, causing him to move backwards in pain.

Ms Neill-Ballantine said Harrison-Smith ran from police on December 30 and after catching up with him, they searched a backpack in his possession at the beginning of the pursuit and found 12 live shotgun rounds and a wallet which contained two clip-seal bags of methamphetamines.

Defence lawyer Virginia Ukpabi said Harrison-Smith left home at age 12 and developed a drug habit.

She said he had previously worked at the meatworks and wants to return to employment in the future.

Harrison-Smith pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to appear in court, two of wilful damage of police property, along with one count each of serious assault of a police officer, obstruct police, wilful damage and demerit point unlicensed drive.

The court heard he had a seven-page criminal record.

Harrison-Smith was sentenced to eight months prison with immediate parole release, disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay a $450 fine.