Robbie Brian Mcalister jailed five years for shooting at Mackay teen pizza delivery driver

A paranoid Qld dad’s dangerously misguided attempt to protect his family after threats peaked when he dug up a hidden rifle and fired at an innocent pizza delivery driver.

Mackay Court House.

A Mackay dad’s misguided attempt to protect his family took a dangerous turn when he dug up a buried rifle and mistakenly fired it at an innocent teen pizza delivery driver.

The terrifying encounter on May 15, 2024, was condemned in Mackay District Court as an act of reckless vigilantism for which harsh penalties were needed.

The court heard on morning of the shooting, Robbie Brian Mcalister had copped abuse and death threats from his partner’s ex with whom she shared a young child during an explosive confrontation.

Sometime after Mcalister, 34, drove to Sarina where he retrieved a .22 calibre rifle “which you knew had been buried by some associate of yours” and returned to Mackay.

About 9pm the 18-year-old Pizza Hut driver had accidentally driven onto Arthur St at Mount Pleasant (he was in his boss’s car which wasn’t marked), where Mcalister lived.
The Slade Point teen was making a three-point turn to leave when Mcalister walked out of his home with the loaded rifle, which he “lifted and pointed” at the young driver.

“He sped away. As he did, you fired the rifle at the back of the car,” Judge Michael Byrne KC said.

The shooting was captured on a dashcam fitted to the car the victim was driving.

“It is abundantly clear from the recording he was justifiably terrified,” Judge Byrne said.

Mcalister told police he aimed at the tyres, but he hit just below the vehicle’s rear windscreen and the bullet pierced the outside of the car but luckily did not enter into the cabin, the court heard.

Robbie Brian Mcalister travelled 30 minutes to Sarina to retrieve a buried rifle he planned to use to intimidate his partner’s ex.

He was arrested five days later on May 20.

Text messages to his partner revealed he had dumped the weapon, which has never been found and was attempting to run from police.

The court heard Mcalister told officers he was “under a lot of pressure” and “thought you had to protect your family”.

“And you thought you had nowhere else to turn, so you armed yourself with a gun,” Judge Byrne said.

Mcalister told police that before the shooting he thought he had heard people in his yard and believed it to be his partner’s ex but could not tell for sure.

“You decided you thought you were going to get hurt,” Judge Byrne said.

“You said you had no intention of hurting anybody or to damage any property, but you just wanted to be left alone.

“You accepted that you made a mistake. You felt like you were pushed into a corner.

“Even if the ex-partner had been driving that vehicle, your conduct reveals a level of criminality which attracts the badge of being vigilantism. This requires deterrent sentencing.”

Judge Byrne accepted Mcalister’s “reckless and seriously dangerous conduct” had far-reaching consequences on the teen and his family.

“Put very bluntly, you fired at the vehicle containing a human being,” Judge Byrne said.

“It is conduct which, quite properly, attracts weighty considerations of community denunciation and outrage that those who are simply going about their job may be subjected to such violence.

“You deliberately travelled roughly a half-hour each way to go and get this weapon. You deliberately took it outside. You deliberately raised it and fired at a vehicle as it was leaving you. Any immediate threat was diminished by that fact. You did that while you were fundamentally reckless as to who was in that vehicle.”

A delivery driver from the Mount Pleasant Pizza Hut was shot at by a man with a rifle on May 15. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Mcalister, 35, pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a weapon used to commit an indictable offence and intentionally endangering the safety of a person travelling in a motor vehicle that latter of which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

“It is said that you are remorseful for your conduct. I accept that you are now remorseful for your conduct,” Judge Byrne said.

The court heard Mcalister has appeared before courts 20 times over 15 years, with the longest gap being three years, with the majority of entries for drug and property offending, nothing really for violence.

He has been on remand for just more than 12 months and in that time had abstained from drug use and had been working, which was in his favour, Judge Byrne said.

The court heard his partner had also given birth to their child while he was on remand.

Mcalister was jailed for five years with parole eligibility in August after serving 15 months. The pre-sentence custody was declared time already served. Convictions were recorded.

Originally published as Robbie Brian Mcalister jailed five years for shooting at Mackay teen pizza delivery driver