Ingham court: Grant Gaut admits to assaulting Ricky Bradshaw
A man who assaulted his partner’s ex-boyfriend after they were subjected to a prolonged period of harassment has appeared in a NQ court.
A man who snapped and seriously assaulted his partner’s ex-boyfriend in a daylight attack in a public street after the couple were subjected to a prolonged period of harassment has appeared in a North Queensland court.
Grant Ashley Gaut, 30, pleaded guilty in the Ingham Magistrates Court to charges of assaulting Ricky Shannon Bradshaw causing bodily harm and stealing his e-scooter and a drone in a daylight attack on August 14.
Gaut’s co-accused Georgia Burns, also in court, has been charged in relation to the incident but is yet to make a formal plea.
Police prosecutor Alice Lane said Ingham police received two Triple-0 calls to reports a male and a female were assaulting a man at about 5pm.
“She observed the defendant and a co-offender assault … the plaintive, the informant saw them throwing him to the ground before kicking and punching him.”
She said the victim lodged a complaint with police the next day, stating he had been punched and kicked multiple times and had suffered bruising to his jaw and a split lip, injuries for which he required hospital treatment.
“The victim stated that a co-offender and the defendant stole his electric scooter and backpack with the drone inside it.”
The scooter was valued at $950 and the drone $600.
The assault was captured on CCTV and played in court.
Ms Lane said Gaut had no prior criminal convictions, “however, it is quite concerning for such a violent attack to happen in the middle of the day in a public street.”
She said that given the violent nature of the charge, “prison was not a sentence last resort” for the crime aggravated by the theft of the victim’s scooter and drone.
She urged a sentence of six months’ jail, suspended for 12 months “to deter Mr Gaut from this type of offending in future”.
Defence lawyer Mark Zeller said his client was employed full time and resided with his partner and children.
He said it was accepted that his client’s actions “exceeded what would ordinarily be considered some sort of self-defence or provocation”.
Mr Zeller said the victim had harassed the co-accused on multiple occasions “abusing her and causing great distress”.
“There had been instances where the victim had been flying the drone on multiple occasions into the yard of my client.”
He said “there were further cases where he was screaming and carrying on outside the residence” as well as two other incidents where police were called.
Mr Zeller said his remorseful client was, ordinarily, a person of good character and integrity, saying a sentence of imprisonment would be excessive.
“He saw (Bradshaw) on this particular day and the events that led up to this incident had festered within him over time and caused him to lash out.”
He urged a fine.
Magistrate Cathy McLennan said the “vicious assault” was “unwarranted” and “unacceptable” but had fortunately not resulted in serious injury.
Gaut was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and ordered to pay $725 restitution.
No convictions were recorded.
Ms Burns’ case was adjourned for four weeks to allow for case conferencing.
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Originally published as Ingham court: Grant Gaut admits to assaulting Ricky Bradshaw
