Sean Watson sentenced in Gladstone District Court after pleading guilty to six charges

Shocking aftermath: In one incident, a man had his arms and legs tied together with zip ties in his own home and was bashed. See the result of the attack here.

Sean Richard Watson, 26, pleaded guilty to six charges including burglary in company in the Gladstone District Court on Friday.

A Gladstone man has been jailed for his involvement in a meth-induced crime spree which included a carjacking and horrifying home invasion.

Sean Richard Watson, 26, pleaded guilty to six charges including robbery in company with personal violence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, burglary in company, robbery in company with personal violence, deprivation of liberty and possessing a dangerous drug in the Gladstone District Court on Friday.

Sean Richard Watson, 26, pleaded guilty to six charges including burglary in company in the Gladstone District Court on Friday.

Crown Prosecutor Eddie Coker detailed the circumstances of Watson’s offending to Judge Brad Farr, the first of which occurred just one month after he was released from prison on bail.

On August 4 2020, around 3am, Watson and his associate were in a car with some other men and a woman when Watson’s associate requested the car be parked in a more secluded location.

The driver complied with the request and when the car stopped, both Watson and his associate opened the doors and began to brutally assault the driver and the other man before driving the car away.

Around 11am on the same day Watson and his associate, who were both affected by methamphetamine, picked up Zachariah Hewitt and headed for Hewitt’s father’s Ambrose property.

His father, 51-year-old Jamie Hewitt, was brutally assaulted by his son and the other man when he did not comply with the trio’s request to supply them with money.

Hewitt bound his father’s arms and legs together with zip ties and continued to assault him and demanded money, guns and a car.

Jamie Hewitt was bashed and robbed in a two-hour ordeal during a home invasion.

Watson spent the two-hour ordeal ransacking Jamie Hewitt’s home for valuables, stripping it of significant items, before the trio left with his ute.

Hewitt will be sentenced in the Gladstone District Court at a later date after pleading guilty on Friday to charges including enter dwelling with intent in company, armed robbery in company and deprivation of liberty.

Zachariah Hewitt will be sentenced in the Gladstone District Court at a later date after pleading guilty to the charges related to the horrific ordeal.

When Watson was arrested for his part in the burglary, he was in possession of a syringe filled with liquid methamphetamine.

Mr Coker said a feature of Watson’s offending included calls intercepted while he was in custody at Capricornia Correctional Centre.

“Several calls from Capricornia Correctional Centre were recorded when Watson discussed his involvement in the two robberies where he complained he had not been paid for the job and his associate had,” he said.

“That is, in my submission, is a very significant feature.”

Defence lawyer Tom Polley of VAJ Byrne and Co lawyers said Watson engaged in violence in the carjacking but none during the home invasion, and had previously been the victim of violence himself.

“My client had an awful upbringing, born and raised in Gladstone, he was the middle of six children and both of his parents were drug users who would use openly in front of the children,” he said.

“Neither worked, there was domestic violence both ways, Watson describes not being well supervised at all with school used as somewhat of a child minding service.

“What is telling in these submissions is sometime after his mother remarried, she and his stepfather were charged and remanded for murder in Gladstone when he was 13 years of age.”

Watson's solicitor detailed his client’s horrendous upbringing which included his parents openly using dangerous drugs and inflicting domestic violence on one another.

Judge Brad Farr said Watson presented himself as someone who was of a higher risk of future offending.

“I note that you had a very difficult upbringing with incompetent hopeless parents who failed to set any proper example for you whatsoever,” he said.

“Your entire life experience has led you to behave in the way that you have over the years, with all the offences that you’ve committed including these.

“But you are 26 years old, you have to be responsible for your own actions and I’m sure you understand that.”

Watson was convicted and sentenced to five years and eight months imprisonment, with a parole eligibility date of May 2, 2023.

Originally published as Sean Watson sentenced in Gladstone District Court after pleading guilty to six charges