Tyler Lemanna, 29, faces sentence for meth-fuelled rifle rampage and hospital police assaults

A man shot himself in the foot before he went on a meth-fuelled rampage with a loaded rifle through the southern suburbs of Cairns, assaulting officers with urine, faeces, and a cup of milo while in hospital.

A man shot himself in the foot before he went on a meth-fuelled rampage with a loaded rifle through the southern suburbs of Cairns, assaulting officers with urine, faeces, and a cup of milo.

Gordonvale man Tyler Lemanna, 29, pleaded guilty to a total of 15 counts and another 10 summary charges which included serious assaults of police officers, going armed to cause fear, threatening violence with a weapon, drug possession, unlawful possession of firearms and prohibited weapons, and dangerous driving.

Crown prosecutor Seamus McManus said the offending demonstrated the serious risks methylamphetamine poses to the public.

“The offending globally involved threatening community members with a rifle, driving dangerously through Gordonvale and Edmonton on a Saturday afternoon, and the continual assault of police and hospital staff when he was hospitalised in Cairns … Hospital,” he said.

“A search of his house and vehicle uncovered further weapons and drugs.”

Mr McManus told the court Lemanna’s rampage began on May 27, 2023, when a friend came to his home to pay a debt.

“The defendant greeted his friend with a pump action 308 rifle and pointed it at his head,” he said.

Tyler Lemanna, 29, man shot himself in the foot before he went on a meth-fuelled rampage with a loaded rifle through the southern suburbs of Cairns, assaulting officers with urine, faeces, and a cup of milo while in hospital.

“The man grabbed the barrel of the gun and the pair then struggled over the gun and the rifle discharged with the defendant shooting himself in his right foot.”

Lemanna left in his car and was caught on dashcam footage driving dangerously at speeds well over 100km per hour sideswiping one car.

Mr McManus told the court Lemanna made two stops during his journey.

“He stopped near the Sikh temple down a side road where he exited his car with the rifle and scoped a car as it drove past,” he said.

“The terrified couple, who were looking for the shooting range, were terrified and accelerated away.”

Lemanna then stopped at a cane farm where he threatened a 16-year-old boy with the rifle.

“The boy was playing his PlayStation and thought it was his father coming home,” Mr McManus said.

“He then saw the defendant with a bloody foot and armed with the rifle coming towards the house.

“The boy bravely armed himself with a knife and went outside where the defendant pointed the gun at him and shouted ‘help me f---ing c--- or I’ll f---ing shoot you’.”

The boy then hid inside a cupboard, where he told his friends to call police through the gaming headset he was still wearing.

The prosecutor told the court Lemanna then drove to Core Fitness in Edmonton where he again exited his vehicle with the rifle.

The Cairns Court House building on Sheridan Street. Picture: Brendan Radke

Lemanna fled into nearby bushland where he stripped naked and abandoned his firearm before being apprehended by police.

He was arrested and taken to Cairns Hospital for treatment where he underwent multiple surgeries.

While in hospital Lemanna remained “agitated” and assaulted multiple police officers and hospital staff when they tried to calm and restrain him after he was told his foot may have to be amputated.

“The police officer entered and he escalated to aggression throwing a cup of milo at him,”

the prosecutor said.

The officer then returned with a second officer and hospital security officers who were also assaulted, with footage captured on body worn camera.

The footage played in court showed the man naked in a hospital bed with officers telling him to calm down, before he grabs one of the officers, pinning him to the bed, standing over him and punching him in the face.

Lemanna was then restrained on the ground, where he continued to resist, spitting in the face of a security officer.

Mr McManus told the court Lemanna during the assault also defecated, smearing it on the arm, jaw and clothes of a female senior constable.

On another occasion Lemanna became agitated, smashing hospital equipment before throwing a bottle of urine at a police officer, splashing him with the fluid and striking another security officer.

A search of Lemanna’s home and vehicle also uncovered a second illegal firearm, over 16 grams of methylamphetamine, magic mushrooms, and other weapons including a metal baton, pepper spray and a taser.

Defence counsel Rachelle Logan told the court the offending was “short and sharp” and said her client was drug-affected at the time and doesn’t remember much of his conduct.

She said he was remorseful and accepted the Crown’s case against him.

Ms Logan told the court Lemanna had a long history with drug abuse beginning when he was introduced to meth as a 14 or 15-year-old, working as a fisherman.

She said he had undergone a stint at a rehabilitation centre in Thailand but had relapsed after his move from Victoria to Queensland, leading to his offending using one gram of meth a day.

In his sentencing remarks Justice James Henry described Lemanna as a “ticking time bomb” and denounced the lack of targeted follow up during a 15 month probation when Lemanna was in Port Douglas.

“Things could have been very different today,” he said.

Justice Henry called the offending a “rolling chain of events from a total loss of control” and labelled his antics in the hospital “disgusting” and “wicked”.

Lemanna was given a global sentence of five years and three months for the totality of the offences.

He will be eligible for parole on February 26, 2025 with time already served.

Originally published as Tyler Lemanna, 29, faces sentence for meth-fuelled rifle rampage and hospital police assaults