South Burnett pub-related crimes and the offenders behind them

From meth-fuelled rants over pub Covid rules, to drink drivers doing burnouts on kids’ toys, the region’s courts are teeming with offences related to alcohol and nights at the pub. See the list of recent cases:

A blind woman was thrown onto a concrete footpath by a drunken man she didn’t know so violently her head “bounced”, before being punched more than a dozen times and kicked.

This was just one of the many shocking crimes, fuelled by alcohol and nights out on the town, brought before the region’s courts.

From screaming fits on rooftops to assaults, here are the circumstances surrounding some of the most shocking cases heard in South Burnett courts recently:

Kingaroy man sentenced for late night assault of woman in Blackbutt

A drunk father of three who brutally slammed a 50-year-old legally blind woman onto the concrete and pummelled her in a horrifying incident later claimed he thought he was being robbed.

Shane O’Hara later told police he didn’t know she was a woman and he believed she was threatening to rob him at knifepoint, despite CCTV showing him turning his back on her before launching his assault.

The 50-year-old woman, who has just six per cent vision in one eye and one per cent in the other, had been collecting used cigarette butts with a friend in Blackbutt at the time of the attack.

Police prosecutor Lisa Manns told Kingaroy Magistrates Court that O’Hara grabbed the victim by the throat and threw her to the ground, causing her head to “bounce off the concrete”, before climbing on top of his victim and punching her in the face 13 times.

O’Hara pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and was sentenced to three months’ jail, wholly suspended for 12 months.

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Man sentenced in court for pointing replica gun in pub

A fight outside a local pub took a terrifying turn when a South Burnett parolee’s mum pulled up, with the 28-year-old asking her to “give him a gun” before pointing it at a patron.

Tyson Douglas Graeme Hall was arguing with a patron outside the Fitzroy Hotel when things turned violent.

The 28-year-old struck the man with a closed fist and knocked him to the ground, police prosecutor Sergeant Lisa Manns told Kingaroy Magistrates Court.

He attempted to strike the patron again multiple times when the victim intervened.

Sergeant Manns said things escalated when Hall’s mother pulled up in her car, with her 28-year-old son saying, “Mum, give me the gun”.

The woman reached into the back of the car and handed her son a replica firearm, which he pointed at the victim.

Hall pleaded guilty to threatening violence and public nuisance.

He was sentenced to nine months in jail, with his parole release date set for August 21.

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Drunken hooligan attacks ex’s dad, tears up yard in car

A Blackbutt man was pushed into a sink and assaulted when his daughter’s drunken partner showed up at his house uninvited, damaging his home and mowing down children’s toys as he performed burnouts in the yard.

The woman returned to find John Wayne Michael Button sitting drunk in her father’s front yard on May 4, where he’d been waiting to accuse the young woman of cheating on him.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Lisa Manns told Kingaroy Magistrates Court Button began calling the victim a “s--t” and a “wh--e”, before heading inside to collect his belongings.

The woman’s father confronted the 33-year-old and asked him to leave, with Button lashing out and punching and kicking a bedroom door in response.

Button also did burnouts in the man’s yard, running over children’s toys in the process.

He was also found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.079.

Button pleaded guilty to drink driving, wilful damage and common assault.

He was sentenced to three months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, and placed on probation for 18 months.

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Mum of six sentenced for “appalling” assault on 10-year-old daughter

A mother of six who left her kids home alone to go drinking until 4.30am, busted open her 10-year-old daughter’s head after coming home to find the children awake.

Police were called to a South Burnett property in the early hours of July 8, where they discovered an injured child with a towel wrapped around her head.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Barry Stevens said officers spoke to the little girl who said her mother returned home drunk and hit her in the back of the head because she called her “Mum”.

The woman claimed at the time it was an accident.

Lawyer Mark Oliver said his client was very drunk at the time at the time of the assault and had returned home angry after a fight with her friends.

The mother pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and was sentenced to 12 months in jail with immediate parole.

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No convictions recorded

Meth fuelled rant over pub’s Covid rules

A methed-up reveller unleashed an explosive tirade and later had to be sedated and held down by police after he was denied entry to a pub over his Covid vaccine status.

Norman Fisher, 19, was denied entry to the Commercial Hotel in Kingaroy on March 6 while mandates were in force, when he failed to show proof he was double vaccinated.

The Maryborough local started “yelling and screaming” at hotel security and blocking other people from entering the hotel, police prosecutor Lisa Manns told Kingaroy Magistrates Court.

Cops arrived to find a “paranoid” Norman, who told them he’d used meth and was being chased.

Norman was taken to Kingaroy Hospital where he was given a sedative to calm down, but after kicking at the door of the hospital’s safe room and attempting to push past police, the officers handcuffed and held him down until the medication took effect.

Norman pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing police, public nuisance, contravening a police requirement, and possessing a drug utensil and was ordered to complete 40 hours’ community service.

No conviction was recorded.

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Father of three faces court for public nuisance at Kingaroy Hotel

An “upsetting” argument with a former partner is being blamed for a farm worker drinking so heavily he lost all recollection of a night that ended with him being pulled from a pub roof and locked up.

Matthew Edward Miller, 25, got into an argument with the mother of one of his three children on June 9 this year.

The dairy farmer made his way to Kingaroy Hotel, where his night rapidly went downhill.

Police were called to the venue at around 2.30am after Miller clambered onto the roof of the drinking spot and began yelling.

When security pulled him down, he began “kicking and screaming”.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates Court to one count of committing public nuisance in the vicinity of a licensed venue.

Miller was fined $500 and no conviction was recorded.

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Man sentenced for ‘out of character’ assault after night out

A man’s argument with a taxi driver spiralled into a bizarre screaming fit and assault on his partner, which ended with a date in front of a magistrate.

Brandon Hargreaves-Wall, 30, went out for a night of drinking with his partner in Kingaroy in December last year.

When the Nanango couple finished their night out, they jumped in a taxi to head home and the night began to go off the rails.

An argument broke out between the driver and Hargreaves-Wall once they arrived at the home, with his partner forced to intervene.

The woman travelled further up the road without Hargreaves-Wall and paid the driver before walking back to the house.

Police prosecutor Lisa Manns said the partner found Hargreaves-Wall lying in a ditch “screaming incoherently” and decided to leave him outside to “calm down”.

The victim went to the pair’s bedroom, and Hargreaves-Wall later entered the home and walked in the room, punching his partner in the head.

Hargreaves-Wall pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.

He was fined $1000 and no conviction was recorded.

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