The 17 parents that faced court in Sunshine Coast 2023
These are the Sunshine Coast parents who ran afoul of the law this year for matters ranging from an illegal cannabis “shop” to sophisticated fraud schemes and drink driving. See the full list.
Police & Courts
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From a couple who ran a drug operation out of their family home to a young mum involved in a violent home invasion, these are the parents who faced Sunshine Coast courts in 2023.
See the full list:
Brooke Ashley Miller and Allister Charles Whatnall
A Buderim couple, raising two young children, trafficked drugs out of their unit shared with their two young children after their jobs were affected by the pandemic.
Brooke Ashley Miller and Allister Charles Whatnall were surrounded by supporters in the Maroochydore District Court on May 4 as details of their 14-month drug trafficking business were shared.
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks said the couple trafficked cannabis at street level out of their family home to pay for their children’s expenses and their home from August 2020 until they were undone in November 2021.
They referred to their illegal business as a “shop” with up to 70 customers and would communicate in coded, but unsophisticated, terms, on Facebook messenger, Ms Marks said.
Two phones and two digital scales were found, as well as $20,000 worth of cannabis and $77,800 cash, Ms Marks said. Miller claimed the drugs were hers.
Whatnall’s defence barrister Kevin Kelso said it was his client’s idea to start trafficking after his work as a plasterer was affected by the pandemic but now runs his own business.
Miller’s defence barrister Matthew Hynes said Miller went into rehabilitation after she was arrested and she also started full-time work.
They pleaded guilty to possessing anything used in the commission of a crime, possessing drug utensils, possessing dangerous drugs, receiving or possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying, and trafficking dangerous drugs.
Miller also pleaded guilty to contravening a police order to provide information about a digital device.
Whatnall was sentenced to three years with a parole release date of February 4, 2024. Miller was sentenced to three years with immediate parole.
Jennifer Leigh Derksen
A Burnside mum downed a bottle of wine before she gave an astronomical blood-alcohol reading following a crash.
Jennifer Leigh Derksen pleaded guilty to one count of high-range drink-driving in the Nambour Magistrates Court on February 20.
Police prosecutor Lee Allan said Derksen was found by police in the driver’s seat of an “extensively damaged” silver Mazda following a two-car crash on Lamington Tce about 4.20pm on December 30, 2022.
Police ordered a blood test, which returned a reading of 0.419 per cent, more than eight times the legal limit, and Derkson told police she had consumed a bottle of wine at the movies before driving to KFC to get a meal.
“I don’t think I’ve come across a reading higher than that in my time as a prosecutor,” Senior Constable Allan said.
Magistrate Raelene Ellis said she “was just not sure” she accepted that Derksen had consumed only one bottle of wine prior to the crash.
“0.4 is verging on death,” she said.
“You don’t verge on death after a bottle of wine.”
Duty lawyer Katie Paterson said Derksen, a mother-of-three, had suffered a traumatic childhood, a miscarriage and a marriage breakdown and had kept the struggles of alcohol addiction to herself to protect her family.
Ms Ellis gave Derksen nine months’ jail, with immediate parole, disqualified her from driving for five years and recorded a conviction.
David Patrick Williams
An experienced real estate agent and father-of-two spent months behind bars for a “disgusting” assault which left a woman battered and bruised.
Peregian Springs man David Patrick Williams faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court on August 1, where he was described as a “stellar” real estate agent.
Court documents state Williams was arguing with a woman at a Peregian Springs home on October 31, 2022 over her messaging another man on dating app Tinder.
Williams had struck her across the face so hard she fell backwards, kicked her upper thigh and spat on her face before she pushed him and told him to get off her.
Williams then threw a coffee table which landed on her foot, pushed her over again and held her down before he left the home, the documents state.
Police prosecutor Mark Burrell told the court the spitting was “disgusting and degrading”.
Lawyer Belinda Robinson said her client was a real estate agent with a “stellar” professional reputation, and could have his licence removed if convicted of a serious crime.
On the morning of his court appearance, Williams had two house listings advertised on his Ray White Noosa Rivers agent profile but was removed during the afternoon and a Ray White Group spokesperson confirmed Williams had resigned.
He pleaded guilty to five charges including three of assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence) and one of common assault (domestic violence offence).
Williams was sentenced to nine months’ prison, to serve one third and was released on October 23.
Elleny Jade Matthews
A Sunshine Coast mum was jailed for driving onto a marathon track just metres from competitors, and two days later punching and robbing a trusting neighbour.
Maroochydore District Court heard on August 31, 2023 Elleny Jade Matthews drove in the parking lane at Cotton Tree Parade while the area was zoned off for Sunshine Coast Marathon athletes in 2022.
Crown prosecutor Joana Dias told the court Matthews was driving at a slow pace before police officers and other supervising staff shouted at her to stop.
This was when she “accelerated heavily” and drove within metres of marathon competitors, taking some traffic cones with her, Ms Dias told the court.
Chief Judge Brian Devereaux said Matthews was fortunate no competitors were hurt.
Two days later, Matthews and another man visited the home of a neighbour and began throwing false verbal abuse, calling the neighbour a “dog” and a “pedophile”.
Ms Dias said Matthews demanded cash and other items, saying “we’re here to clean you out” and they each threw a punch at the victim’s face before grabbing some valuables.
Defence barrister Lachlan Ygoa-McKeown said she wanted to see her son upon release from custody and she had received an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Matthews was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with her parole release set for September 6, 2023.
She was disqualified from driving for three years and 237 days of her 380 days spent in pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.
Elleny Jade Matthews pleaded guilty to 20 offences including one count of robbery in company with personal violence, one of unlawful use of a vehicle, two of failing to stop when ordered by police, one of dangerous operations of a vehicle and one of obstructing police.
Julie Anne Daldy
A former nurse, dubbed the “botox bandit” after she walked out on a $1100 injectables bill, swindled a friend out of $2100 for a private dentist appointment for her granddaughter.
Julie Anne Daldy appeared in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court via videolink on November 14, where she pleaded guilty to 14 offences including fraud, drug drive, stealing, failing to appear and possessing drug utensils for use.
Police prosecutor Leonie Scott said one of the most serious offences included Daldy walking out on a $1100 botox treatment bill 0n March 28, which led to Daldy being the subject of an A Current Affair story and labelled a “Botox bandit”.
Daldy later swindled a friend out of more than $2000 for dental treatments for her granddaughter, after noting down her card details which was left on a kitchen bench.
Defence lawyer Katie Patterson told the court her client was suffering from stresses in her personal life at the time of the offences, including her mother’s death.
Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin noted Daldy could have taken her granddaughter to a public hospital and didn’t understand why she went to a private dentist instead.
He sentenced Daldy to six months and 14 days behind bars, with an immediate parole release date and her 85 days spent in pre-sentence custody was declared time served.
She was disqualified from driving for one month for the drug drive charge, and no restitution order was sought.
Reace Edward Forrester
A Landsborough stonemason turned vigilante abducted a teenage “thug” he mistook for stealing a friend’s car to “teach him a lesson”, a court was told.
Reace Edward Forrester was supported by his family and young children in the Maroochydore District Court on November 13, where he was sentenced over the hour-long ordeal involving a 16-year-old boy.
The court was told the boy was a passenger in a car stolen from Forrester’s friend’s house three days before the event on October 14, 2020.
Crown prosecutor Michael Andronicus said Forrester, with another man who was sentenced in 2022 for his part, spotted the teenager at Landsborough station and mistook him as the car thief.
Forrester’s co-accused tackled the teenage boy to the ground, bruising his hip, before he was thrown into a ute and driven to Forrester’s friend’s house, whose car was stolen.
The court was told Forrester’s friend wasn’t home, so the teen was put back in the car, driven to a bottle shop and then to Pioneer Park, where he was finally let out.
The court heard Forrester, who had been drinking at this point, held a knife against his throat and behind his ear, then cut the boy’s hair and clothes and threatened to cut his penis.
The teen was later dropped back at the train station.
Defence barrister Matthew Hynes said Forrester was a “hardworking family man” and the offending came at a stressful time in his life; during the height of Covid and when his stonemasonry business was suffering.
Forrester pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while in company, deprivation of liberty and common assault and was sentenced to 18 months’ prison, suspended for two years.
Tahlia Jade Harris
A mum-of-three who lost her home and car was pressured into a prison smuggling operation to send drugs to her ex-partner behind bars.
The code words used by Landsborough woman Tahlia Jade Harris were revealed when she pleaded guilty to one count of supplying drugs within a correctional facility in Maroochydore District Court on Monday, October 30.
The young mum tried to send buprenorphine strips, referred to in phone calls between the pair as “subbies” or “subway,” relating to brand name Suboxone.
Court documents also reveal Harris told police in an interview that during the pandemic each strip would sell for $1000 in prison.
Crown Prosecutor Elle Bolam told the court the package, which contained 15 strips, was intercepted by staff at the jail.
Defence barrister Lily Brisick said Harris was pressured by the ex-partner to send the strips and she did so to “get him off her back”.
Harris was sentenced to nine months’ jail with immediate parole.
Ashleigh Lauren Cole
A Palmview mother was fined after she failed to declare bankruptcy when enrolling two of her children in a ritzy Toowoomba private school.
Ashleigh Lauren Cole faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court on May 16, 2023 after pleading guilty to one count of failing to declare bankruptcy to obtain goods or services at an earlier date.
The court was told Cole went bankrupt in August 2018, shortly after her husband who went bankrupt in June, 2018.
In 2019, they enrolled two of their primary-school aged children at Highlands Christian College to start in following years but Cole went bankrupt a second time in 2020 and pulled their children out of the school in June, 2021.
In the same month, Cole’s husband was discharged from his bankruptcy and the children were enrolled at Toowoomba Grammar School.
Cole failed to disclose she had gone bankrupt while co-signing signing an enrolment document, requiring a minimum payment of $8,361.25, the court was told.
The children were later unenrolled by the school in January 2022 over unpaid school fees and the debt was referred to debt collectors.
Defence barrister Kelvin Pearson said the offence came from a lack of knowledge and impulse and his client, who worked as a disability support service manager, was remorseful for her actions.
Cole was fined $1500 for the offence and ordered to pay $7,077.50 in compensation to the school. A conviction was recorded.
Morgan Reanna Ainsworth
An ex-nurse previously convicted of fraud for impersonating doctors to get her hands on prescription drugs returned to court six months later for similar lies.
Morgan Reanna Ainsworth, also known as Morgan Cahill, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on November 27, 2023 to five counts of fraud by dishonestly obtaining property.
The court was told the Buderim woman purchased drugs from various pharmacies on five occasions using the name of a Sunshine Coast doctor, her mother and her three-year-old son.
Court documents reveal she used identifying details of a Buderim clinic doctor to release a script for herself to by 12 tablets of Endone - containing oxycodone - and 10 tablets of Targin, which contains oxycodone-naloxone.
She then used a digital script to buy prescription medication from a Mooloolaba pharmacy using her three-year-old son’s name after she had told a Telehealth doctor her son had his tonsils and adenoids removed, documents stated.
On another two occasions while she was an inpatient at Buderim Private Hospital, she obtained a script from a Melbourne Telehealth doctor, instead using her mother’s name and Medicare number to buy panadeine forte and oxycodone from the hospital pharmacy.
Defence lawyer Benjamin Rynderman said Ainsworth is an “intelligent and qualified” member of the community as a nurse and she has since voluntarily suspended her medical registration.
Ainsworth was sentenced to four months’ prison wholly suspended for 12 months and a conviction was recorded.
Lauren Lesley Hall
A Buderim mother faked her way into a property manager role using someone else’s property licence registration after being convicted of fraud, a court heard.
Lauren Lesley Hall pleaded guilty at Maroochydore Magistrates Court on August 17 to acting as a real estate salesperson without a certificate and two counts of providing a document with false information.
The court was told Hall lost her registration certificate and was banned from reapplying for five years due to a fraud conviction in 2016 and asked the Office of Fair Trading for it to be reinstated in August 2019 after she became a senior property manager, claiming she was falsely convicted and asked for a review.
Her request was declined and she was then told she could reapply in 2021, but in May, 2021, before her ban was over, she was hired as a senior property manager at a different firm.
In July, she asked the Office of Fair Trading for a licence extract for a Lauren Hall who worked in North Queensland, and despite having a different middle name, Hall was sent the document.
Then following an anonymous tip-off about unlicensed workers, Office of Fair Trading investigators visited Hall’s workplace and found an expired registration in Hall’s file, the court heard.
While the investigators were still at the firm she applied for it to be renewed and showed them a receipt to show it was now up to date and later confessed to the fraud to inspectors but claimed she did not realise the registration belonged to someone else.
Lawyer Jacob Pruden told the court his client had applied for a new registration three times, but was knocked back.
Hall was fined $8000 and disqualified from getting a real estate licence for five years and convictions were recorded.
Taneisha Lee Blakeley
A young Sunshine Coast mum narrowly avoided jail time after the court heard details of her role in a violent home invasion and robbery in Mountain Creek.
Taneisha Lee Blakeley appeared in the Maroochydore District Court on August 21, where she pleaded guilty to robbery and enter dwelling with intent while armed in company.
Crown prosecutor Joana Dias told the court Blakeley – who was 18 at the time – and a group of young men including co-accused Dominick Encoh Phillips entered the Mountain Creek home on March 30, 2022.
“Two days before the offences, Ms Blakely and co-accused Phillips went to the complainant’s home and collected a pair of shoes he had for sale for $210, she had indicated she would transfer the money through pay ID but never paid him and told him a text message that she wouldn’t pay him,” Ms Dias said.
Ms Dias told the court a number of incidents occurred relating to the exchange of valium and xanax over the days before the robbery, with Blakeley approaching the complainant’s house at one point with a butcher’s knife.
The court was told on the night of the robbery Blakeley’s co-accused and former partner, Phillips, entered the home first pulling a pistol from his bag and demanded to know where the complainant was.
Defence barrister Laura Reece told the court she understood the offences to be drug-related, rather than about the shoes, as Blakeley was addicted to a number of substances at the time.
Ms Reece told the court Blakeley had made significant attempts to improve her and her young daughter’s lives while on bail, stating “she has changed her life”.
Blakeley was sentenced to four years imprisonment, wholly suspended and a three-year probation order.
Convictions not recorded
John Leslie Palmer
A Sunshine Coast dad copped a “wake up call” when police kicked in his front door at sunrise and discovered his marijuana and cocaine stash as part of a major drug bust in Aroona.
John Leslie Palmer, an Aroona electrician and business owner, appeared in the Caloundra Magistrates Court on August 9 where he pleaded guilty to three counts of drug possession, and one each of producing drugs and possessing used drug utensils.
Police prosecutor Stephen Potter told the court police searched the Aroona home on July 13 and uncovered cash hidden in different places including wrapped in Christmas paper, inside two vaults, a Woolworths bag and the garage.
Renovation documents, credit cards and mobile phones were also found and police then located a stash of drugs including chopped marijuana, a marijuana plant, marijuana seeds, MDMA tablets and cocaine, as well as a bong, grinder, glass plate and a straw.
Sergeant Potter said Palmer told police the drug utensils, credit cards, marijuana, marijuana seeds, cocaine and some of the MDMA tablets were his but knew nothing about the money in the garage.
Lawyer Nick Crawford said someone else had admitted to owning the money found, and his client had not been charged in relation to that.
Mr Crawford said the marijuana was used as a pain relief method for a shoulder injury, and the other drugs Palmer had “experimented with”.
He was fined $1500 for all charges and convictions were not recorded.
James Andrew Garratt
A Peregian Springs father grabbed a 11-year-old boy by the shirt after the child got into an altercation with his son at the local skate park.
James Andrew Garratt pleaded guilty in Noosa Magistrates Court to one count of common assault after he went to the local skate park where his son had been playing after his child came home with a ripped shirt and bruising.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Allison Johnstone said police attended the scene of an assault on March 23, 2023 after Garratt confronted a child who he said had stolen from and assaulted his son at a skatepark.
The court heard the child had taken a drink from Garratt’s son and drank it without permission.
The child spilt the drink over Garratt’s son and other children at the park rode his bike without returning it when asked.
Ms Johnstone said police were told the boy left and his father, Garratt, later returned, grabbed the victim by the shirt, pushed him up against a concrete wall and verbally abused him.
The child was not injured.
Defence lawyer Steven Brough said Garratt’s child was painfully shy and his parents had been trying to encourage him to go out more when he left for the park.
“He should have of course not gone there and allowed the police to deal with it,” he said.
Mr Callaghan fined Garrett $800 and did not record a conviction.
Samuel McNeill and Eisha Serena Cull
A hinterland raid revealed a dad-of-four was producing drugs and keeping firearms at a Doonan he shared with the co-accused and mother of his children.
Samuel McNeill appeared in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on October 6 where the court heard police raided a home that McNeill shared with the co-accused Eisha Serena Cull on August 22, 2022,
Court documents state police found about 60g of white powder and 41 cannabis plants in a sophisticated hydroponic set-up that included heat lamps, fertiliser, pots, electrical cabling and irrigation as well as drug utensils and guns.
McNeill pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing and producing cocaine; possessing equipment used to produce cannabis; possessing cannabis; possessing pipes, scales and a clip seal bag used in the commission of a drug offence; permitting a use of place to be used for the production of a dangerous drug; possessing two pistols unlawfully and possessing a pump-action shotgun unlawfully.
Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin granted McNeill bail and said he would be sentenced in the District Court at a later date.
McNeill, a kitchen cabinet installer, also pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing explosives was adjourned to the Magistrates Court on March 15, 2024
Lawyer Ben Rynderman said it was important to note Cull was not charged with producing or possessing any of the drugs but she was aware of the “nefarious activities” taking place.
The lawyer said Cull was a hairdresser and bookkeeper who looked after her father, who has dementia.
Mr McLaughlin fined Cull $1000 and no conviction was recorded.
Michael Jonathon Slater
A former Australian cricket star held back tears in court as he opened up about how he “lost everything”.
Michael Jonathon Slater pleaded guilty on November 21 in Noosa Magistrates Court to three counts of obstructing police.
Police prosecutor David Hoffman said officers visited Slater’s Noosa Heads home on March 31, 2023 for a welfare check after he sent a text to an ex-partner threatening suicide and described Slater as “combative and aggressive” as he resisted arrest and verbally abused officers.
Slater said he was triggered by a $130,000 tax bill on the day of the offending, and was shameful of not acknowledging police.
“I was at the top of my game and I’ve dropped the ball in the last three years after my marriage broke up and I’ve struggled not living with my three beautiful kids,” Slater said.
Mr Hoffman said officers struggled to handcuff Slater on the night of the incident.
Slater pulled his handcuffed wrist away from an officer which left a small cut on the officer’s finger, the court was told.
Slater was fined $600 and convictions were not recorded.
Phillipa Ann Grueber
A Buderim mum was put on probation after she defrauded her former workplace out of more than $1200.
Phillipa Ann Grueber pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on January 12 to four charges of fraud – dishonestly gain benefit/advantage by employee.
The court was told Grueber, who was a secretary for Mooloolaba doctor Clive Fraser at the time, had been busted swindling $1217.55 from her workplace across four occasions between August and September, 2022.
Police prosecutor Brendan Newman said she used the business’ eftpos machine to deposit refunds into her personal account, but the transactions were flagged by the business’ bank.
Sergeant Newman said the payments were disguised as refunds for telehealth appointments and standard health practice fees, which Grueber said were for particular patients despite the fact she had no authority to process refunds.
Grueber eventually admitted to taking the money through a series of text messages and her job was then terminated on September 16, 2022.
Defence lawyer Rachel Holland said her client, who is a single mum, was “extremely remorseful” for her actions.
She told the court Grueber was homeless at the time and living with her sister, and has since been diagnosed and medicated for bipolar and PTSD.
Grueber was ordered to pay the money she swindled in restitution, was sentenced to a 12-month probation period and a conviction was not recorded.
Rachelle Maree Ryan
An experienced nurse admitted in her resignation letter to stealing fentanyl while on shift at the Sunshine Coast’s largest hospital, a court heard.
Rachelle Maree Ryan pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 5 to one count of possessing dangerous drugs and one count of stealing by persons in the public service.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Brendan Newman said Ryan, a mother of three, was working as a registered nurse at Sunshine Coast University Hospital and, as a part of her duties, had to administer drugs to patients for surgery and pain relief.
Sergeant Newman said that on Saturday January 29, 2022, another registered nurse spoke to the nursing unit manager stating they saw Ryan place fentanyl in her pocket.
As Ryan was confronted by the nurse manager, Sergeant Newman said Ryan ducked into a cubicle and to dispose the drug in a plastic sharps bin but was observed doing so.
Police were then called and detectives attended the hospital, where Ryan denied any involvement and stated she followed hospital policy and processes.
A subsequent search was done surrounding the plastic sharps bin where the fentanyl was located.
Ryan was suspended from work and on July 20, 2022 she resigned from her position, acknowledging she had stolen the fentanyl in her resignation letter.
Sergeant Newman said it was not alleged that she had given any patient an incorrect dose of fentanyl or any patients’ care was compromised.
Ryan’s defence lawyer Ken MacKenzie said her decades-long and unblemished career in nursing and recent trauma should be factored in by Magistrate Raelene Ellis.
Ms Ellis did not record a conviction and fined Ryan $700.
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