5 unusual Gympie crimes that left magistrate stunned
From blaming criminal activity on mythical creatures to bashing a family friend over a skateboard, here are five out-of-the-ordinary crimes that left Gympie’s magistrate shaking his head in disbelief:
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Gympie magistrates and judges have presided over more than their fair share of weird and wacky criminal cases over the years.
These five cases in particular, were so out of the ordinary that Magistrate Chris Callaghan of the Gympie Magistrates Court was visibly stunned by the details, or by things the defendants said.
From blaming criminal activity on mythical creatures to bashing a family friend over a skateboard, here are five unusual crimes that left Mr Callaghan puzzled or shocked.
1. Arsenal to repel yowie attack lands meth addict mum in court
Knuckledusters, tasers, a butterfly knife and other illegal weapons found in a Cooloola Cove woman’s house were to protect her from yowies, the Gympie court was told.
Helen Rachael Doran, 46, pleaded guilty to eight charges, including producing marijuana and possessing several illegal weapons.
Police from Gympie CIB and the Wide Bay Crime Squad searched Doran’s Cooloola Cove home on September 9, 2020, finding two tasers, a butterfly knife, knuckledusters, a credit card knife and an illegal laser pointer.
During the search, Doran claimed ownership of the weapons, which were hidden in different spots around the house, and said she used them to protect against yowies while she was camping or in the bush.
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.
“They don’t exist. You’re talking about a mythical character.”
Mr Callaghan said he had not been given any “reliable” explanations as to why Doran had a “plethora” of weapons, but said it was to be noted they were all kept at home and not found on her in public.
He fined Doran $800.
2. Offender claimed chemotherapy gave him brain damage
Appearing from custody in the Gympie Magistrates Court, Chase Shorthouse pleaded guilty to several offences, including stealing, public masturbation, drug possession and more.
His lawyer, Chris Anderson, told the court Shorthouse, who continuously interrupted the proceedings, was “by no means a sophisticated person.”
“I had leukaemia at a young age. I had chemotherapy. I lost my mind,” Shorthouse interrupted at one point.
“That’d be a first,” Mr Callaghan quipped.
Later during the proceedings, as Mr Callaghan was delivering his sentence, Shorthouse continued to speak over him.
“This is not a conversation. I’m giving you my reasons,” Mr Callaghan snapped.
“Just be quiet and listen.”
3. Teen dumped stolen ute in cemetery lake after ramming car
A Gympie teenager who stole a car, dumped it in a lake and assaulted three people was told to grow up and take responsibility after he blamed his behaviour on drugs and alcohol.
Jason Dylan Chilly, 19, pleaded guilty to 16 charges in the Gympie Magistrates Court, including assault causing bodily harm, going armed in public to cause fear, theft and breaching bail conditions.
Chilly stole a ute, which he drove around Gympie while on a disqualified licence, rammed it into his partner’s mother’s car and then drove the car to the cemetery and left the handbrake off so the car would roll into a lake, writing it off.
Chilly also stole petrol from Coles Express Gympie for the car, attacked a woman while armed with a chair, and then when a man stepped in to help, dropped him to the ground and kicked him.
Solicitor Mark Oliver said Chilly blamed his behaviour on the drugs and alcohol, and that he had taken Xanax when he stole the car.
“I don’t accept that excuse, and in fact the law doesn’t accept that excuse,” Mr Callaghan said.
“You must be responsible for what you put in your mouth and the actions that follow.”
Mr Callaghan gave Chilly a head sentence of 18 months in prison, to be released on 12 months parole after six months served.
4. ‘You’ve been telling police rubbish’: Magistrate blasts teen
Gympie Magistrate Chris Callaghan did not buy the excuses a 19-year-old gave in court for failing to return a Blue Card that was cancelled.
Riley Colin Carkeet, 19, was required to return the card last January after something in his criminal history led to a cancellation.
After ignoring several requests by authorities for the card‘s return, the Gympie man was charged with failing to return it.
Carkeet‘s lawyer told the Gympie Magistrates Court her client believed his card was lost when it was in a car that was stolen and burnt out.
Gympie Magistrate Chris Callaghan was not impressed with Carkeet’s excuses that he couldn’t return the card because “he couldn't buy stamps over Christmas.”
“It doesn't sound like the truth to me,” Mr Callaghan said.
“What you've been telling the police is rubbish.
“I think you didn‘t return your Blue Card because you are slack.”
Carkeet was convicted and fined $250. No conviction was recorded.
5. Tin Can Bay man bashes family friend over a skateboard
Dylan Ross Byriel, 26, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in Gympie Magistrates Court after he kicked and punched a man he thought had stolen his skateboard.
It was a course of action that took him to Gympie Magistrates Court on charges of assault occasioning bodily harm, and facing the possibility of ending the year in jail.
The assault, which ended when the victim stumbled to his feet and ran away, scratching and scraping himself in the process, was one of three charges the Tin Can Bay man pleaded guilty to, along with breaching bail and possessing a smoke bomb on January 2, at Pialba.
Magistrate Chris Callaghan was left to ask the question: “Why didn’t you go to the police and say I think this man has stolen my skateboard?”
Byriel said he “didn’t think of it at the time”.
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