Nicholas John McQuoid pleads guilty to serious assault of four police officers

The owner of a Sunshine Coast landscaping business has faced court after pleading guilty to assaulting multiple police officers while on bail.

Maroochydore Court House. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The threat of deportation confronted the owner of a Sunshine Coast landscaping business owner in court on Tuesday when he pleaded guilty to assaulting a number of police officers.

Nicholas John McQuoid appeared on video link in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to seriously assaulting a total of four police officers across two separate incidents.

McQuoid was convicted of 11 charges including driving under the influence, failure to appear, obstructing and seriously assaulting police on two separate occasions, the first incident in September 2023 was followed by a second, more serious incident in October.

The court was told the father-of-two committed the most serious offences while on bail on October 13, 2023, where he obstructed police while adversely affected leaving a number of officers injured.

Police prosecutor Stu Lydford told the court McQuoid had a relevant criminal history from New Zealand before he moved to Queensland.

“The aggravating feature today is that he was on bail,” sergeant Lydford said.

Lawyer for McQuoid, Zac Reinke, told the court the father-of-two struggled with meth addiction and asked the court for a sentence that would allow McQuoid to continue running his business.

“He has shown previously he can avoid participating with substances,” Mr Reinke said.

“This is first drug-related charge before the court, I can’t sidestep the fact it is a much more serious escalation behaviour before that prior.”

Maroochydore magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist told the court the victim impact statements from the police offices made for “sad reading” and that time behind bars was “inevitable”.

“There are four police officers here who have been significantly impacted from your offending,” Mr Stjernqvist said.

Mr Stjernqvist told the court the October offences took place on the day McQuoid failed to appear for a court date.

“The most serious of the offending happened when you were supposed to present yourself to court but you didn’t,” Mr Stjernqvist said.

McQuoid was sentenced to 15 months’ behind bars and will be released on parole on March 18, 2024.

Mr Stjernqvist ordered McQuoid complete a total of 240 hours of community service.