Ian Thomson pleads guilty in Roma District Court to threatening police and assault occasioning bodily harm

A Roma man busted on CCTV dragging a woman by her hair across concrete before making threats about the Wieambilla massacre to arresting officers has landed in court.

Cairns police generic

A Roma man charged for assaulting a woman and threatening police officers with the Wieambilla tragedy has complained to the court about his living conditions while remanded in custody.

Ian Thomson, 52, pleaded guilty in Roma District Court to threatening police and assault occasioning bodily harm, appearing in court via videolink from custody.

Crown prosecutor Ashleigh Wakefield said on February 22 police received a call to attend a Roma address regarding a violent incident.

“The defendant and complainant were drinking alcohol at a friend’s house when the defendant went to his car and fell asleep,” she said.

“The complainant has woken up the defendant to encourage him to sleep in the spare bedroom in the house.

“A verbal argument has commenced between the pair and the defendant has then assaulted the complainant by pushing her, taking her by her hair and dragging her across the concrete.

“He’s also used his right leg to knee the complainant in the upper body region.

“He punched the complainant, at some point during the assault. He also pushed her head into the concrete.

“That offending was captured on CCTV footage.”

Ms Wakefield requested the CCTV footage capturing the domestic assault be played in court, which was granted.

The court was told the complainant called for emergency services where they observed swollen eyes, blood from her mouth, nose, hands and knees, bruising to her back and face and two front teeth were loose.

Police located the defendant still at the address and transported him to the watch-house.

Ms Wakefield said while at the watch-house counter the defendant spoke to two officers and referenced the police tragedy at Wieambilla.

“The defendant has made comments about the charging process and has said to one of the officers, and I will quote from the facts, ‘Oh well, we’ll see what happens, that’s just my opinion, sh-t happens like Wieambilla, hey.’”

The officers asked what he meant by that and he replied, “Oh I’m just saying because it’s a f–ked up situation, people getting charged for the wrong thing.”

During that interaction with the officers, he asked one of the officers if he had a particular type of weapon before using his hands to mimic shooting a gun at that officer.

He continued, “I didn’t do nothing to you guys and nothing to my missus.”

Thomson was remanded in custody where he has remained since his arrest.

Defence barrister Jens Streit said his client had tended a letter of apology to the court and was remorseful for his behaviour.

Mr Streit said alcohol played a big role in Thomson’s offending, calling it his “achilles heel”.

“He’s an otherwise good character in the community with support,” Mr Streit said

“A friend of the defendant is in court supporting him today.”

Mr Streit said his client had a blood alcohol reading of .208 at the time of the offending and he “reacted in a way he wouldn’t if he was sober”.

“Some people might be hospitalised with such a reading but he wasn’t,” he said.

Mr Streit also told the court how his client was concerned for his health after spending 239 days in custody and being forced to share a cell.

“He’s in a cell on the floor because there’s two of them in a one-bedroom cell, his head is nearly in the toilet,” Mr Streit said.

Judge Ken Barlow said Thomson’s offending is “totally unacceptable” and said he took into account the defendant’s long criminal history for domestic violence and police violence spanning over three decades.

“Police dealt with you very considerably in regards to the conversation as far as I can tell,” Mr Barlow said.

“I accept you were drunk, and I’m told you have no recollection of that discussion, but it’s still totally unacceptable.”

Thomson was sentenced to two years and three months jail for the assault and nine months’ jail for threatening police to be served concurrently.

The 239 days of pre-sentence custody was declared time served and a parole release date was set for November 22 2023.

All convictions were recorded.