Kurt Ross Burgess in court for public nuisance

A Maryborough man who stabbed himself with a flick knife later terrorised members of the public by “trying to fight” people in a carpark.

Kurt Ross Burgess, 25, pleaded guilty to committing a public nuisance, obstructing a police officer and unlawful possession of a weapon when he faced Maryborough Magistrates Court on Monday.

A man who stabbed himself in the leg with a flick knife in a Maryborough motel room later terrorised members of the public by “trying to fight” people in a carpark.

Kurt Ross Burgess, 25, pleaded guilty to committing a public nuisance, obstructing a police officer and unlawful possession of a weapon when he faced Maryborough Magistrates Court on Monday.

Police prosecutor Sonia Edwards said the incident happened on November 26, 2024, about 8.40pm.

Police were sent to Ferry St in Maryborough to a motel in relation to a man who had “intentionally stabbed himself in the leg with a knife” and was waving his arms around trying to fight people, Sgt Edwards said.

Kurt Ross Burgess, 25, pleaded guilty to committing a public nuisance, obstructing a police officer and unlawful possession of a weapon when he faced Maryborough Magistrates Court on Monday.

Burgess was in the carpark of the motel yelling and swearing and attempting to fight members of the public, the court was told.

Children and other people were staying at the motel, Sgt Edwards said.

When police arrested him, he refused to stand up, and was non-compliant, straightening his legs and pushing his weight backwards in an attempt to prevent police from walking him to the vehicle.

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Burgess then placed his feet on the pod of the vehicle and pushed back in an attempt to stop police from getting him in the pod, the court was told.

When police entered the motel room he had rented, they found a flick knife on the bench, the weapon they believed he had used to inflict his own injuries, Sgt Edwards said.

Duty lawyer Warren Hunter said Burgess was drunk at the time, but there was no particular event one could point to that caused the incident.

“It was brought on purely by his own self and nothing else,” Mr Hunter said.

“He indicated that he had been drinking at the time and something has been triggered within him.”

Mr Hunter said his client had paranoid schizophrenia and at the time of the incident he had not been on his medication for quite a while.

Since then, he had not consumed alcohol and had been on his medication, Mr Hunter said.

The motel manager had been “rather forgiving” and had taken him back into the units on the condition that he not drink alcohol, he said.

Magistrate John Milburn said Burgess had acted “bizarrely” and had injured himself during the incident.

He said Burgess was seeking professional assistance and had been allowed to stay at the motel.

He was fined $600 and convictions were recorded.

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Originally published as Kurt Ross Burgess in court for public nuisance