Caboolture brothers in court for bashing teen as ‘discipline’

Two Moreton Bay brothers were involved in a misguided assault on one of the pair’s drug-taking son, hitting and pushing him repeatedly, a court has heard.

Two Moreton Bay brothers have been sentenced for bashing one of the men’s teenage son in a misguided attempt to impose “discipline” on the drug-taking teen, who has gone missing in the days leading up to the assault.

The Caboolture men, both of whom cannot be identified so as to protect the identity of the teen victim, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to assault occasioning bodily harm.

The bashing occurred on February 2 last year.

The court heard the assault was precipitated by the teen, who had begun “hanging out with the wrong crowd” and taking drugs, going missing over the weekend.

After the teen returned home on Sunday afternoon, the boy’s father asked him to come to the back of the property to wash his car.

The pair began arguing over the boy’s disappearance, prompting the son’s outburst that he “didn’t want to live there or be home”.

The boy fled the argument but his father caught up to him, at which point the boy said he “hated” him.

The father responded by pushing the teen onto the ground.

The elder brother, the boy’s uncle, then joined the fracas, launching the teen into a sheet-iron fence which buckled, sending the boy crashing through.

The boy’s father then struck him four or five times to the side of the head, causing his tongue to bleed.

When interviewed by child protection officers three days later, the boy’s father was unrepentant, remarking, “I put him through a fence and gave him a black eye as a bit of discipline”.

The two men were charged several months later.

Both men had Queensland criminal histories, with the younger brother’s the worse.

He had multiple convictions for drug possession and supply, dishonesty-type offences, and for a serious assault of a police officer.

The older brother had convictions for drug and weapons offences.

Representing the elder brother, defence counsel Angus Edwards told the court his client was trying to help his younger brother set “firm boundaries” for the errant teen, whose drug-use was spiralling.

“My client accepts his behaviour was a gross over reaction,” Mr Edwards said.

“He should have de-escalated the situation.

“He regrets how much force he used.”

Barrister Sarah Cartledge, representing the younger brother, said the two men’s concern for the teen had peaked the week prior, when they discovered a video of the boy abusing MDMA.

However, she noted the teen had since found full-time work and appeared to have turned a corner in his life.

Judge Katherine McGinness commented that the assault on the boy did not appear to be an isolated incident.

“It’s not surprising he had problems,” she said.

Judge McGinness fined the brothers $2000 each and recorded a conviction.