Qld’s most bizarre crimes: List of the wild and crazy court cases
Welcome to the weird, wild and – frankly – unbelievable tales from Queensland courts. These are the crimes you’ll struggle to comprehend.
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Golf buggies, buxom bandits and “honey traps”.
Welcome to the weird, wild and – frankly – unbelievable tales from Queensland courts.
From serious crimes to others which left offenders out of pocket and embarrassed, these are the stories that you have to read to believe.
10 MCMUFFINS, TWO PUNCH UPS AND A STOLEN CARD
A wild night at McDonald’s ended with a fraudulent order of 10 bacon and egg McMuffins, two customers punched in the face and 140 hours of community service for a Brisbane FIFO worker.
Wiremu Hone Waretini was 26 when he visited Airlie Beach and stumbled across a credit card left behind at a Night Owl in the early hours of March 11, 2018, the Sandgate Magistrates Court heard in September 2020.
In a drunken haze, he took the card and used it four times in just 10 minutes at the convenience store, racking up $238 in purchases.
From there, he wandered over to the Shute Harbour McDonalds to order a whopping 10 bacon and egg McMuffins, paid for with the stolen card.
Police prosecutor sergeant Troy Newman told the court that CCTV footage showed Waretini lingering in the outside area of the McDonalds, “puffing his chest out”, “speaking to several members of the public” and brandishing his fists at passers-by, many of whom crossed the street to avoid him.
When Waretini noticed one of the fellow customers laughing at him, he approached his table and punched him twice on the side of the face.
Waretini, a father of three children, pleaded guilty to all 11 charges, spanning from that incident in 2018 to the most recent matter in February 2020, which included charges of public nuisance, two counts of common assault, two counts of fraud and stealing.
Magistrate Jennifer Batts convicted and sentenced Waretini to 140 hours of community service to be completed in one year, and fined him $2000.
14 BEERS AND A GOLF BUGGY
Beers and golf buggies generally don’t mix well together.
And if the 14 Great Northerns consumed by Adam Thomas Smeets didn’t handicap him on the fairways, they certainly would have when he took a golf buggy for a spin around the main streets of Yeppoon.
Police caught the 34-year-old on Queen St in August 2020 and charged him with drink-driving and unlawful use of a vehicle without consent.
Smeets pleaded guilty to those offences in Yeppoon Magistrates Court in September 2020.
The court heard that on the day of the offending, Smeets had been playing golf at Yeppoon Golf Club and the buggy belonged to the club.
After he came to the attention of police about 5.45pm, Smeets recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.142 and the buggy was found to have damaged steering.
The court was told that Smeets, a roofer for a building company, was so intoxicated on the day in question that he didn’t recall much of it.
Acting Magistrate John Milburn described Smeets’ actions as “potentially dangerous”.
Mr Milburn fined him $1000 and disqualified him from driving for seven months.
Smeets was also ordered to pay $165 compensation to Yeppoon Golf Club.
MAN WALKS DOWN STREET NAKED, BOOTED FOR KISSING
A man who faced a magistrate for walking down the main street of Ayr naked was also kicked out of a courtroom in July 2020 for canoodling with his missus.
Kurt Gene Mclearn, 32 at the time, was waiting to face the Townsville Magistrates Court for 22 charges when Magistrate Ross Mack demanded Mclearn leave the room.
“Look you two, get outside … this is a courtroom not a boudoir,” he said.
Once Mclearn faced Mr Mack a short time later, the court heard Mclearn was charged for trespass while picking up dumpers and was caught walking in Ayr naked.
“I got a fright because someone was breaking my house up and my shorts fell off as I was walking down the road,” he said.
Mclearn also called an ambulance when he couldn’t find his asthma puffer and was caught driving unlicensed while on a suspended sentence, the court heard.
Mr Mack declared the 151 days spent in pre-sentence custody and sentenced Mclearn to nine months’ jail with immediate parole.
BLACKMAILER SET UP HONEY TRAP FOR SUGAR DADDY
A sugar baby set up a honey trap to extort a Brisbane father out of $5000 by threatening to tell his family about their raunchy rendezvous, a court was told in August 2020.
Melissa Aras met the 55-year-old father on Seeking Arrangement, the world’s largest Sugar Daddy dating site, and he “paid for her company” before they went their separate ways.
After their encounter, Aras set up a fake Facebook account under the name Johnny Cox and demanded the Kallangur father transfer $5000 to her bank account or she would tell his family and friends that he had slept with a 17-year-old.
Aras, 22, pleaded guilty to extortion and was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, wholly suspended for two years.
FISH AND CHIP EMPLOYEE FENDED OFF WITH WALKING STICK
An elderly Tin Can Bay woman came face-to-face with the world’s worst home invader, after she woke up in the middle of the night to find a drunk Rockhampton mother on her doorstep.
Nadine Stevie Wilkinson, 26, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court on June 13, 2022, to wilful damage and serious assault.
The court heard Wilkinson, who worked at a fish and chip shop at the time, drunkenly woke up a 77-year-old Tin Can Bay woman when she began banging on her courtyard door.
The women did not know each other prior to this.
The court heard Wilkinson got in the elderly woman’s face and told her she had stolen Wilkinson’s phone.
The woman then angled her walking stick to keep Wilkinson away, though Wilkinson pushed past the woman and sat on the floor inside the home, where she fell asleep.
The woman then called police, who found Wilkinson out cold and arrested her.
Defence barrister Amelia Loode said her client had “overindulged” with alcohol on the night of the offences.
She said the 12-month anniversary of Wilkinson’s then-partner’s suicide was approaching at the time, which had sent Wilkinson into a spiral.
However, her client was now drug and alcohol free.
Judge Ian Dearden said Wilkinson was “obviously off her face” that night.
Wilkinson was sentenced to nine months behind bars but was immediately released on parole.
A conviction was recorded.
MAN THREATS FAMILY, PET CAT WITH HARPOON
The theft of a $200 chair landed a Warner resident in jail after he threatened to kill police and shoot his victim’s cat with a harpoon.
Declan John McClenaghan, 20, pleaded guilty at Pine Rivers Magistrates’ Court in June 2020 to six charges including stealing, going armed, obstructing police, drug possession and possession of a drug utensil.
Police were called after the victim recognised McClenaghan in CCTV footage of the theft.
Police forced entry into the house by kicking in the front door and McClenaghan “violently resisted arrest”.
Prosecutor Sergeant Kim Harwood said it took five police officers to subdue and handcuff him.
Magistrate Trevor Morgan ordered McClenaghan to six months imprisonment, including the 44 days already served, suspended for 12 months.
MAN STABS MATE EIGHT TIMES IN FRENZIED ATTACK
A Yeppoon man who stabbed his housemate eight times with a kitchen knife for no reason, was jailed in August 2020.
Luke Thomas Stephen Garner, 21, was sentenced in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton after pleading guilty to one count of malicious act with intent.
Garner was discharged on the more serious charge of attempted murder.
The court heard details of the March 9, 2019 stabbing incident at Lammermoor which involved 25-year-old victim Dominic Patrick Vidler.
After falling asleep, Mr Vidler was woken by someone stabbing his right shoulder.
He ran out of the room, unable to identify who had attacked him.
Ambulance officers treated Mr Vidler before taking him to Rockhampton Hospital.
Later the knife used by Garner, between 25cm and 35cm long, was found under his bed along with four other carving-style knives.
Justice Graeme Crow sentenced Garner to six-and-a-half years’ jail, eligible for parole after serving two years and two months.
SEX TOYS TARGETED BY JEALOUS BOYFRIEND
Sex toys were the unlikely casualty of a heated argument between a north Brisbane man and his girlfriend, the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court heard in November 2020.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence order by using a knife to create carnal carnage in his girlfriend’s bedside table.
The court heard the man sliced into the woman’s sex toys when her phone died, believing she was ignoring his calls and messages.
The man was fined $500 and no conviction was recorded.
MAN BANNED FROM FOODWORKS FLASHES ‘HANDGUN’
A Tara man who was banned from FoodWorks faced court in March 2021 after he walked around town with what appeared to be a loaded handgun.
Dalby Magistrates Court heard James Leon De-Lisle had walked into the Tara BP on September 2, 2020, where two witnesses saw him with what they thought was a black gun in his hand.
Police prosecutor Chris Hutchins said police intercepted the 29-year-old walking along Fry Street shortly afterwards, where he dropped the “weapon”.
Sergeant Hutchins said it was observed to be a gel blaster, and said De-Lisle hadn’t brandished the “toy” in a threatening way when he was at the service station.
De-Lisle pleaded guilty to going armed to cause fear and unauthorised takeaway of shop goods, and was fined $900.
A conviction was recorded.
DRINK DRIVER RACKS UP $9K IN SPER FINES
Some people are slow learners – Detroit Breaker Gurnick appears to be one of them.
A month after he was punished in court for drink-driving, he was back there again for the same thing.
In October the 27-year-old pleaded guilty in Yeppoon Magistrates Court to drink-driving and this time he didn’t just get punished, he got a stern lecture from Magistrate Jason Schubert.
“A month after you just received a court disqualification for like offending, you’re showing absolute contempt for orders of the court,” Mr Schubert said.
“And driving at that amount (0.137) you’re placing the innocent members of this community’s lives at considerable risk.”
Gurnick’s latest indiscretion happened on September 18 when he was caught drink-driving at Emu Park. Magistrate Schubert convicted and fined Gurnick $1000 and disqualified him from driving for 10 months.
MAN STEALS BOAT, TRIES TO OUTRUN COPS
A young Gympie man who breached Covid restrictions to steal a boat and was caught after getting bogged trying to outrun police, had also been disqualified from driving.
While fishing at Rainbow Beach on April 18, Corey Michael Jessop-Warnes saw a small aluminium boat, known as a tender, tied to a tree near the Carlo Point boat ramp, and decided he would steal it.
The 21-year-old headed home to Gympie to get a trailer, and at 6pm returned to the boat, untied and loaded it onto his trailer before he was witnessed driving it out of town.
Jessop-Warnes was charged with driving unlicensed while on a court disqualification, stealing, evading police and obstructing police. He was sentenced to 18 months’ jail with parole eligibility from November 28.
He was banned from driving for two years.
ARSENAL TO REPEL YOWIE ATTACK BY METH ADDICT MUM
Knuckledusters, tasers, a butterfly knife and other illegal weapons found in a Cooloola Cove woman’s house were to protect her from yowies.
Helen Rachael Doran, 46, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court in October 2020 to eight charges including producing marijuana and possessing several illegal weapons.
Doran’s lawyer Chris Anderson said the 46-year-old mum had a “fear of yowies.”
“They’re mythical, aren’t they?” Magistrate Chris Callaghan asked.
Police from Gympie CIB and the Wide Bay Crime Squad searched Doran’s Cooloola Cove home on September 9, finding two tasers, a butterfly knife, knuckledusters, a credit card knife and an illegal laser pointer.
Doran was fined $800.
DRUGGED-UP MAN TRIES TO FIGHT COPS
A Jandowae man who yelled at a cop to come out of his police station so he could “f*** (him) up” was so high and drunk he couldn’t tell officers why he was there, a court heard in October 2021.
Jason Leslie Waldron stumbled up to Jandowae police station about midnight on September 1, 2021 where a policeman observed the 37-year-old yelling at the station.
Dalby Magistrates Court was told Leslie could be heard yelling “come out … you c***, I’ll f*** you up”, and continued to hurl verbal abuse and threats at the building.
Police prosecutor Derek Brady said the 37-year-old was taken to the ground by a police officer, and when he was asked about his behaviour, Waldron couldn’t talk and appeared to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Waldron pleaded guilty to public nuisance, possessing utensils, drugs and a restricted item, and was fined $750.
A conviction was recorded.
MAN BREAKS IN, HAS SEX WITH DOLLS
A man smashed his way into an adult shop in January 2009 and had sex with blow-up dolls before abandoning the sex toys in a nearby lane.
His method of entry into the Cairns business was to smash through walls and squeeze through tight holes.
The owner of the adult shop, who wished to be named only as Vogue, said that in a first unreported break-in, the man had stolen five dolls and had sex with one of them.
“It is totally bizarre. It is a real concern that someone like that is out on the street,” he said.
Vogue said a sex toy also went missing in the second break-in and that the offender had a liking for the doll model named “Jungle Jane”, which had been taken on both occasions.
Both men said fleeting video images showed the burglar as being a tall, skinny caucasian.
No one was ever arrested over the incidents.
ENGAGED TRADIE USES GUMTREE AD TO SEND NUDES
Gympie Magistrate Chris Callaghan described a tradie sending an unsolicited nude photo to an innocent young woman through an ad on Gumtree as “appalling”.
Bud Frederick Condon, 35, was in August 2022 supported by his fiance in the public gallery as Gympie Magistrates Court heard details on how he used the sales website to harass the woman.
He pleaded guilty to seven charges: four driving offences, stealing from Gympie Nextra, failing to dispose of a needle and using a carrier service to harass.
The court heard the woman had posted an ad to the website selling a pot plant on behalf of her grandmother.
The woman received three missed calls and a series of texts from Condon, despite several attempts at telling him to leave her alone, including pretending to be a man.
The horror culminated in Condon sending an unsolicited picture of his genitalia, the court heard.
Condon was sentenced to nine months behind bars but only served three months before being released on parole on December 29, 2021.
Mr Callaghan ordered Condon enter a good behaviour bond of $1000 for the remainder of his sentence. A conviction was recorded.
‘EXTREMELY HUNGRY’ THIEF PUTS PIZZAS DOWN PANTS
A Chatsworth man, who was homeless at the time, attempted to steal two frozen pizzas by shoving them down the front of his pants.
Steven Clunes, 22, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on June 30, 2022, to unauthorised dealing with shop goods, after the brazen theft in Gympie’s Drakes supermarket.
Defence lawyer Laura Nightingale told the court Clunes was homeless at the time and had no money to pay for the pizzas.
Clunes worked as a farmhand and had been largely homeless for the past five years, mostly residing at his brother’s house and on the streets.
He was fined $400. A conviction was recorded.
DOG FORCED TO JUMP TO SAFETY AFTER THEFT
A young Bundaberg man’s theft of a vehicle led him straight to district court in July 2022.
In a terrifying twist, Bailey Clout stole a dog grooming vehicle that happened to have two people and a dog inside it at the time.
The frightened animal was forced to jump to safety, while its groomers frantically called police.
Clout‘s offences had already earned him a two-year suspended prison term.
He was granted immediate parole eligibility after pleading guilty to breaching that suspended sentence.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
A conviction was recorded.
DRUNK MECHANIC ATTACKS VENDING MACHINE
A Cooloola Cove man who tried to “have a conversation” with a vending machine before smashing it with a sledgehammer was fined $400 in Gympie Magistrates Court in July 2020.
Piriniha Te Whenua Kelly, 41, pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging property at Rainbow Beach Car Wash on October 19, 2019.
Police prosecutor Lisa Manns said CCTV footage showed an intoxicated Kelly approach a vending machine at the car wash, “have a conversation with it”, and then kick and punch it.
He smashed the vending machine with the sledgehammer, causing $391 of damage, the court heard.
WOMAN STEALS CLOTHES IN WHEELCHAIR SCHEME
An able-bodied mother who pretended to need a wheelchair when she went on a $200 stealing spree in a Chinchilla clothing store was blasted in court for her “abhorrent” criminal history.
Chinchilla Magistrates Court was told Jahkara Hardy is one of two women who entered K-Hub and stole $212 worth of children’s clothing in the lead up to Christmas 2021.
Police prosecutor Chris Hutchins told the court on October 27, 2022, that the 23-year-old was sitting in the wheelchair as her co-accused pushed it into the store and began shoving kid’s clothes into empty bags on the chair.
The court was told that a few months later the Chinchilla woman also stole perfumes from a pharmacy by shoving them into the back of a pram, as well as taking an iPhone cable from a BP service station.
Hardy pleaded guilty to four stealing charges, trespass, driving on a learners licence without supervision and proper display of plates, driving an unregistered vehicle and failing to appear.
She was sentenced to 18 months probation.
She was also fined $450 for the driving offence, and was to pay restitution of $106 to K-Hub and $26 to BP.
DRUNK MAN BREAKS INTO WIDOW’S HOME, SMASHES HEIRLOOMS
Brodie Liam Oats, 21, broke into the home of a 76-year-old woman, on the Bruce Highway south of Townsville on December 14, 2019.
Police prosecutor Cassandra Nitz said about 11pm that night Oats and the co-offender left a party on a rural property and decided to walk back into town when they smashed a rear window of the unoccupied house and forced the back door open.
The court heard in July 2020 when inside, Oats deliberately pushed “priceless family heirlooms like glassware” off of the kitchen table and onto the floor.
Oats then picked up a wooden dining chair and threw it through the kitchen window.
Oats was sentenced to six months jail, wholly suspended for two years and was ordered to pay $5000 in compensation within 12 months.
GOLD COAST’S BIZARRE ‘BUXOM BANDIT’
A woman dubbed the “buxom bandit” made headlines across the globe and even sparked a loopy Taiwanese animation after she exposed her breasts while robbing an Arundel service station with a knife on July 2, 2012.
Provocative armed robber Tonee Walker, dressed in a low cut top, waved a flick knife at attendant Gary Corcoran and giggled as she bolted with $300 from the till.
Her getaway driver told police Walker deliberately lowered her shirt to expose her breasts after telling friends she was going to give the worker “something to look at”.
CCTV of the crime went viral online and resulted in the creation of an animation poking fun at the incident. It showed Walker bouncing into the Arundel shop atop a kangaroo.
Walker eventually pleaded guilty to armed robbery and stealing a number plate when she faced Southport District Court in March 2013.
Barrister Marcin Lazinski told the court his client had been under the influence of amphetamines and Xanax.
Walker was sentenced to four years jail with parole eligibility after serving 16 months.
PENSIONER USES WIPERS TO ROB A SERVO
A Gold Coast disability pensioner decided to tape together two windscreen wipers to use as an unlikely weapon in an odd attempt at robbing a Smith St service station.
Joshua John Poole stuck his head inside a T-shirt with eye holes sliced in the fabric before he charged into the servo wielding the wipers like a stick on June 29, 2017.
The robbery quickly ran into a snag when a customer placed Poole in a constrictive bear hug.
Nevertheless, Poole still shouted at the servo’s console operator to hand over the dosh.
“Give me the f***ing money, give me the money now,” he reportedly screamed.
In September 2019 Poole pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery.
Defence barrister Nick McGhee told the court: “It was a most bizarre attempted robbery as he was effectively restrained from the time he entered the store.”
He said Poole was remorseful and suffered from various mental health issues.
Poole was sentenced to three years probation.
STALKER CALLED WOMAN 7500 TIMES
A Gympie man who stalked and harassed his ex girlfriend by phoning her an average of once every 12 minutes for more than three months straight was given a suspended jail term for his “absolutely stupid” behaviour.
Father of eight Peter Matthews was 58 when he began 96 days of harassment against the woman after their relationship ended.
Gympie District Court heard from February 24, 2018 to May 11, 2018 Matthews called her 7499 times, leaving voicemails on a number of occasions.
Matthews pleaded guilty to one charge of stalking and was sentenced to six months’ jail, suspended for a year, and issued with a restraining order.
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