Matthew Andrew Louis: Drunk father stripped off, exposed himself and ran through streets of Cotton Tree screaming

A court has heard how a 33-year-old stripped off his clothes and ran screaming through a popular Cotton Tree park in broad daylight.

Matthew Andrew Louis, 33, was given probation after pleading guilty to public nuisance and obstruct police.

Police were forced to subdue a drunk man who stripped off his clothes and ran screaming through Cotton Tree exposing himself to people and trying to start fights at 1pm, a court has heard.

Matthew Andrew Louis was charged with public nuisance and obstruct police officer after the incident on September 7.

He pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to six months probation in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday.

Police prosecutor Stu Lydford said police had received several calls from the public about the 33-year-old father’s behaviour that afternoon.

The court heard he had “removed his clothing and was attempting to fight people”.

Louis then exposed himself to a group of women who drove past before running through the streets “screaming and threatening people”.

Sergeant Lydford said Louis got into a fight with a group of men before running towards a park on Cotton Tree Esplanade.

He said police found Louis on the ground yelling and swearing with his pants half on and his belongings strewn on the footpath.

Louis was told he was under arrest but failed to comply with police who were forced to hold him on the ground and call for backup.

Matthew Andrew Louis, 33, was given probation after pleading guilty to public nuisance and obstruct police.

Sergeant Lydford said Louis had a serious criminal history but had not been too active in the past couple of years.

The Rochedale South man represented himself in court and said he had been drunk at the time of the offence.

He told Magistrate Maxine Baldwin he did not have a drinking problem but when he did drink “eight or nine times a year” he always landed in trouble.

“Do you know how much over your life you’ve been sentenced to jail since being an adult, the 16 years you’ve been an adult?” she asked Louis.

“All up 290 months, that’s 24 years.”

She said some of the terms were parole or suspensions but said at the rate he was going Louis was on track to spend half his adult life in prison.

“As soon as you get drunk you hand your decisions over to alcohol, but you get the consequences of it,” she said.