Jay Mathew Lauder pleads guilty to breaking into Maroochydore police station, Hungry Jack’s
A Gladstone man has said ice was the cause of his bizarre break in at a Sunshine Coast police station and a fast food joint where he barricaded himself inside and damaged glass doors.
Police & Courts
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A Gladstone man has admitted to being on a meth binge when he broke into a Sunshine Coast police station and a nearby Hungry Jack’s.
Staff members at the fast food favourite in Maroochydore were horrified when they found Jay Mathew Lauder inside the building after he shoulder barged one of the doors during a “significant drug episode” on January 29.
Details of his bizarre meth-fuelled spree were heard in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday where Lauder, from the Gladstone suburb of Clinton, applied for bail on two counts of enter premises and commit and one count each of wilful damage of police property, trespass, driving under the influence of liquor and wilful damage.
Police prosecutor Jeanette Grigoris, who objected to the 39-year-old’s bail, said Lauder broke into the Maroochydore Police Station when officers were at an alleged siege at Sippy Downs last week.
Sergeant Grigoris said police were required to return to the station after the Clinton man barricaded himself inside an office before he walked 100m down the road and did the “same thing” at a nearby Hungry Jack’s on Cornmeal Pde.
The court heard the 39-year-old shoulder charged the front glass door of the restaurant and fled into the store room claiming people were “chasing him”.
She said staff were at the fast food restaurant getting ready to open when they came across a “very erratic” Lauder, who was clearly under the influence of drugs.
The employees there were “quite frightened and alarmed” due to Lauder, the court heard.
Sergeant Grigoris claimed the incident “could’ve been even more serious” as he could have accessed sensitive material inside the police station.
Duty lawyer Michael Robinson said Lauder was on the Sunshine Coast for a psychiatrist visit before his “significant drug episode” last week which led to him spending several days in the Maroochydore watch-house.
Mr Robinson conceded it was voluntary intoxication but believed there was an underlying mental health condition, even though he was clearly “off his head” during the offences.
Magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist granted Lauder bail on strict conditions after the Clinton man pleaded guilty to all charges, with his matters returned to his home town of Gladstone for sentence. He must live there as part of this.
The 39-year-old’s solicitor told him while he was appearing on video he would be unable to drive his car north due his licence suspension on the driving under the influence charge.
Mr Stjernqvist said at the end of the day Lauder knew what the problem was, which was meth. Lauder agreed.
“It’s pretty much meth yeah,” the Clinton man replied.
“Of course it is,” Mr Stjernqvist said.
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