Joshua Charles Barrett: brother of international model faces Gold Coast court after falling asleep on the wheel and nearly hitting police
While his brother was earning his crust as an international model, this Gold Coast bricklayer was narrowly avoiding hitting police with a car. Read what happened in court here.
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The brother of a successful international model has faced court after he passed out at the wheel and narrowly avoided hitting police with his car.
Joshua Charles Barrett, 29, pleaded guilty to seven charges including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and obstruct police officer when he appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The court heard police received reports that a BMW X5 was blocking the entry of a ticket booth, driving dangerously and the driver, who was later identified as Barrett, was yelling abuse at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre at Broadbeach Waters at 7.30am on June 26, 2024.
Police were told Barrett was yelling abuse at people leaving and arriving at a nearby gymnasium, and he kept passing out in the car.
When multiple police units arrived around 8am, Barrett was spotted passed out behind the wheel.
Officers unlocked and opened the driver’s door but when they tried to turn off the car, Barrett woke up.
The court heard despite police directing Barrett to stop and keep his hands where they were, he drove off and narrowly avoided running over officers trying to extract him from the car.
The car briefly stopped before accelerating through closed boom gates, broke the gates off their hinges, hit the gutter and exited westbound on Hooker Blvd, Broadbeach Waters.
Barrett was also before the court for other charges including possessing dangerous drugs and driving while relevant drug present in blood/saliva.
His defence lawyer Michael Gatenby said his client accepted the seriousness of his offences and had expressed remorse.
He told the court Barrett advised him he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and ADHD and had stopped taking his medications at the time.
Mr Gatenby told the court that Barrett’s parents were arrested over cannabis charges when his client was young.
His parents, Allison Cale and Adrian Barrett, were sentenced to jail in 2013 for their involvement in a $12 million drug ring.
The court heard Barrett, who works as a bricklayer, has since started his rehabilitation and engaged with harm reduction programs.
Mr Gatenby said Barrett’s brother Jordan Barrett, who had written a letter to the court, works overseas as a model and his client hopes to travel overseas to visit his brother.
Jordan has featured in campaigns for the likes Balmain and Versace and appeared in music videos for Fergie, Kanye West and Suki Waterhouse.
Magistrate Nerida Wilson said Barrett’s dangerous driving offence was horrendous behaviour.
“It puts everyone at risk, there’s too much of it happening and the public is sick of it,” she said.
She noted that Barrett had “stuck to his guns” and waited nine months for a psychiatrist.
Ms Wilson told the soon-to-be dad Barrett that he needed to be clean and functioning to be a father.
“You don’t want to be that person to your child and it’s a very difficult place when you go down that rabbit hole … do not be that person, sir,” she said.
Barrett was sentenced to an 18-month probation order and disqualified from holding a licence for at least six months.
A conviction was not recorded for his driving offences.
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