Council candidate Shane Cuthbert tells journalist of ‘friends’ that will ‘put bullets in your house’
A Cairns Regional Council candidate has referred a “threatening” email sent by a rival candidate to police who have now closed their investigation.
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A Cairns Regional Council candidate has referred a “threatening” email sent by a rival candidate to police who have now closed their investigation.
The Cairns Post has seen an email sent by council candidate Shane Cuthbert to his Division 4 rival Jeremy Neal on November 14, but has chosen to not publish it in respect to Mr Neal’s privacy.
Mr Neal confirmed he had reported the matter to police.
“I received a concerning email from one of my opposition candidates. I perceived a threat in the email,” Mr Neal said.
“The email was referred to police. I’ve left it with them.”
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident was reported to them in November 2023, which police are no longer investigating.
The Cairns Post understands Mr Neal could take the matter to the civil court but is not doing so at this time.
Mr Cuthbert acknowledged he had sent correspondence to Mr Neal that mentioned “something similar” to having friends that Mr Neal would not want to engage with.
“He was reporting my YouTube videos. At some point I would have sent him an email telling him to stop playing games,” Mr Cuthbert said.
It comes after Mr Cuthbert senta series of unprompted text messages to a Cairns Post journalist in October and November 2023 after this masthead published an article detailing his past including that he was filmed screaming at a bruised and cowering woman.
On October 3, Mr Cuthbert sent a screenshot of an Instagram post that contained an image of himself holding what appeared to be a pistol with the message “people love this stuff”.
On November 1, he questioned why members of “bikie clubs” did not appear on the Cairns Post’s list of most influential people and stated “which surprises me because we run this town”.
Later that day, Mr Cuthbert stated he was “almost invincible” and he “seemed to be able to get away with everything”.
“The truth is I was very vulnerable as a child and now as an adult I’ve worked very hard to be the opposite, powerful, friends that will break your legs or put bullets in your house, getting a law degree to sue people …”
Mr Cuthbert also forwarded a message he said he had sent to another journalist.
“Looking forward to your riveting story, if you defame me or even just write something that pisses me off my friends will be visiting you, my friends in Brisbane, those friends I told (Nine Network’s A Current Affair) I have,” Mr Cuthbert said.
The Cairns Post has not referred the messages to police.
The Cairns Post approached Mr Cuthbert before publishing this story and put a series of questions to him about the messages.
When this masthead asked Mr Cuthbert why he sent the image of himself with a pistol he said it was not sent with intention to intimidate.
“(I sent that) possibly to show you how popular this kind of content is. People can’t get enough and as a journalist you want to write stories that people want to read,” he said.
When asked why he sent the November 1 message that stated “we run this town”, referring to “bikie clubs”, Mr Cuthbert said he had “no answer” for why he used the pronoun “we” and also said the message claiming he had friends who would “put bullets in your house” was not meant as intimidation.
“It’s just about me being open, honest and transparent,” he said.
“I have friends that would put bullets through people’s houses, I have friends who are bikies, who have done that … that is accurate, I do have those friends … bikies are people who do those things.
“Am I having anyone put bullets through someone’s house? No. Am I having anyone’s legs broken? No … that’s not something that I’ve done.”
When asked on February 7 why he sent a message to a journalist that stated his friends would “visit” them if they wrote something that angered him, Mr Cuthbert said it was sent as a warning.
“I guess it was (a warning),” he said.
“Obviously it’s a caution to make sure what you’re writing is factual and not defamatory.”
Mr Cuthbert is competing against the Unity Team’s Jeremy Neal and Team Eden’s Trevor Tim for the Division 4 seat at the March 16 election.
An Electoral Commission if Queensland spokeswoman said matters needed to be handled by police.
“Unless a candidate’s behaviour involves attempts to influence a person’s vote at an election or obstructs a person in the free exercise or performance of a right or responsibility … that relates to an election, the ECQ has no remit,” the spokeswoman said.
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Originally published as Council candidate Shane Cuthbert tells journalist of ‘friends’ that will ‘put bullets in your house’
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