Last-minute twist halts Blair Avery’s road rage trial in Maroochydore
The trial of a Sunshine Coast man accused of road rage has been thrown into chaos after evidence emerged about the alleged victim’s past.
The trial of a Sunshine Coast man accused of road rage has been thrown into chaos after explosive evidence emerged about the alleged victim’s past.
Blair Johnathan Avery briefly appeared in the Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday morning, where he was set to face the first day of his trial following an alleged road rage incident that left a woman with broken bones.
Mr Avery is charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm.
Defence barrister Simon Lewis told the court the complainant in the matter had made contact late yesterday, with an adjournment required to review more material.
“At 4.09pm yesterday afternoon we received an email which contained a statement from the complainant, who has never previously provided a statement and all the indications were that she had declined to do so,” Mr Lewis said.
“In provision of that statement and then her previous history and subsequent QP9s have raised issues that will need to be further investigated.”
Mr Lewis also told the court there was evidence the complainant had been involved in road rage altercations before the incident involving Mr Avery.
“The QP9s of the complainant’s criminal history indicate at the very least a pattern of involvement in matters such as this, involving road rage incidents and her stopping and accosting other road users, some of which appears to have been caught on footage, according to the QP9, ” Mr Lewis said.
“There is also material that my instructives will seek to revisit that would not have been able to been used in the trial until it became apparent she was going to be called as a witness.”
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks told the court the complainant had not “necessarily” been uncooperative in providing a statement.
“The complainant contacted our office in terms of turning up for the trial there was then obviously some concerns raised about how that came to be when she’s previously refused to provide a statement to the police,” Ms Marks said.
“So inquiries were made with the police, further investigations were made and it turns out she wasn’t necessarily uncooperative or in very least had changed her mind, so it is incumbent on us of course to ask the police to obtain a statement from her.”
District Court Judge Gary Long adjourned the trial to begin on February 9, 2026.
It is expected the trial will take four days.
A jury for the matter was not empanelled.
