Whitsunday police crackdown on alcohol-fuelled fights at Airlie Beach nightclubs

Recent arrests for disorderly and violent behaviour in the Airlie Beach CBD all have one ingredient in common.

Hayden Matthew O'Donnell, Danarri Buyu Yaganylloyd Peters, and Julian Thomas Rendall Day were all charged over separate public nuisance offences in Airlie Beach recently. Photos: Facebook.

Authorities are “cracking down” on anti-social behaviour in the Airlie Beach night-life precinct, resulting in high rates of arrests for public nuisance offences.

Whitsunday Police officer in charge sergeant Nathan Blain said police had arrested and charged five people in the past week for committing public nuisance in the Safe Night Precinct, and would continue to take a “high vigilance” approach to such behaviour in a bid to “curb assault rates”.

The five arrests Sgt Blain referred to were in addition to the following five men who appeared Proserpine Magistrates Court on public nuisance charges.

Euan Wright pleaded guilty in the Proserpine court on Monday, to committing public nuisance near a licensed premises and failing to leave a licensed premises, following an incident at Mama Africa nightclub.

Police prosecutor Emma Myors said Wright was asked to leave the club about 12.30am on March 28 because he was throwing and kicking empty plastic cups around inside.

She said he refused to leave, so security guards escorted him outside, and as they were doing so, Wright stumbled, then turned around and punched one of the guards with a closed fist, the court heard.

When police arrived a short time later, Wright was bleeding profusely from the nose and appeared to be moderately intoxicated.

As police attempted to find out what had happened, Wright blew his nose so a splash of blood landed on an officer’s hand and notebook.

The court heard he continued to argue with police, and recorded officers on his mobile phone, asking “who do you think you are?”

His lawyer Phillip Moore told the court his client did not know how the blood nose happened but “given that he was injured on the dancefloor, he doesn’t feel he was the person who should’ve been removed”.

He said Wright “didn’t leave as quickly as he should have”.

Mr Moore said Wright did throw a punch but the punch “didn’t land on anyone”.

“He did react to his forthright removal in an inappropriate way, but the punch didn’t connect,” Mr Moore said.

Wright was fined $1200. No convictions were recorded.

Drew Anthony Taylor pleaded guilty in the court on Monday, May 10, to committing public nuisance and multiple bail breaches following a fight outside Airlie Beach McDonalds.

Sgt Myors said CCTV cameras captured Taylor “shaping up to” another male outside the restaurant on April 4 before they each began throwing punches and wrestling on the ground, continuing to fight as they crossed the road to a taxi rank, the court heard.

When police were called to the scene, about 7.20pm, Taylor was shirtless and “moving towards another male with his arms waving around,” until he realised police were watching, and then turned and walked away from the other male and put a ripped shirt on.

Sgt Myors said Taylor appeared to be “grossly intoxicated” and refused to tell police what had happened.

She said police investigations revealed the two men had been drinking together at Beaches Bar for several hours before tensions erupted over derogatory comments from both parties towards each other’s family members.

Both men were arrested and Taylor was released on bail on the condition he not enter the Airlie Beach Safe Night Precinct between the hours of 6am and 6pm until May 10.

Despite this, he attended Hush Bar in the Safe Night Precinct on April 23 and then again on April 30, when ID scanners flagged the bail breach.

Taylor told the court he did not understand his bail conditions and did not know what or where the Safe Night Precinct was.

He said he was “embarrassed by the whole thing”.

“I had my 18 year old sister with me who was visiting from Brisbane at the time; I got a $2000 chain snatched off my neck in among the scuffle … I was very intoxicated; it’s not like me at all,” he said in court.

He was convicted and fined $1700.

Hayden Matthew O’Donnell pleaded guilty in court on Monday, May 10, to committing public nuisance and obstructing police following an incident at Magnums Backpackers.

O’Donnell was arrested after sticking his rude fingers up at two passing police vehicles, then “continually swearing” at police officers who approached him to warn him about his behaviour.

Sgt Myors said when police asked O’Donnell to sit down for their safety, as a “sarcastic gesture” he laid down on the ground placing his head on an officer’s boots.

When the officer shook his foot and asked O’Donnell to move his head, he called the officer a “c--t”.

The court heard he then resisted the officer’s attempts to handcuff him and place him in a police vehicle just after 1am on April 18.

O’Donnell told the court he was “usually a pretty good citizen” but on that night he had been “highly intoxicated”.

“It was my sister’s 30th and I hadn’t been out for a while,” he said.

He added he “wasn’t really resisting” until he “got kicked in the head” but admitted it was “terrible behaviour.”

He was convicted, ordered to do 75 hours of community service and fined $1000.

Julian Thomas Rendall Day pleaded guilty in court on Monday, May 10, to committing public nuisance and obstructing police after an incident at Airlie Beach McDonalds.

Sgt Myors said Rendall Day placed an order at the restaurant counter, then walked across the store towards another male who was exiting and hit him across the head about 3am on Saturday, April 24

A security guard walked Rendall Day out of the store, and when they were outside, the 21 year old lunged at the guard while a member of the public held him back.

Another security guard restrained Rendall Day until police arrived.

Upon being arrested, Rendall Day grabbed an officer’s hand, swore at police and had to be pushed into the back of the police vehicle, the court heard.

His solicitor Peta Vernon told the court the other male involved in the altercation in McDonalds had approached her client first and had been “egging him on” to fight down at the beach.

Ms Vernon said the situation “got out of hand mostly because of alcohol consumption”.

Rendall Day was fined $1200. No convictions were recorded.

Danarri Buyu Yaganylloyd Peters pleaded guilty in court on Monday, May 17, to committing public nuisance and possessing a knife in a public place following an incident at Boom nightclub.

Sgt Myors said security guards evicted Peters from the club about 11.55pm on April 30 and when police arrived a short time later, he appeared to be intoxicated and highly agitated, the court heard.

The court heard when officers approached the 18 year old, he yelled “Oi, go back up there and get that f---ing c--t” and “You have the wrong f---ing guy.”

He continued to wave his arms around and yell “F---ing c--ts got the wrong guy,” as he walked away from the venue.

Sgt Myors police then arrested Peters and when asked if he had anything to declare before they searched him, he said “I think my f---ing mate gave me a knife”.

Referring to a bumbag he was wearing, he said “you’ll probably find a knife in there but it’s not mine.”

When taken back to the watch-house, he told police he was carrying a flick knife because he had used it earlier that day to cut a festival wristband off and had forgotten he had put it in his bag before going out.

His lawyer Phillip Moore told the court his client had used inappropriate language in a public place “because he felt that the other man should have been the fellow who was evicted rather than him”.

He was fined $1100 and ordered to forfeit the knife. Convictions were not recorded.