Jed Padraic Hamblin appears in court after filming Double Island hoons

An aspiring police officer who captured clips of hoons tearing up a popular beach near Noosa has fallen foul of new Queensland laws.

Jed Padraic Hamblin leaves Gympie Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful filming of hooning over posts of the dangerous behaviour made on his TikTok account. Hamblin did not know the offenders in the videos. He was given a $500 good behaviour bond for six months, and no convictions were recorded.

Tinbeerwah teenager Jed Padraic Hamblin was watching hoons doing doughnuts and tearing up Double Island Point in May when he decided to film them and share the videos on social media.

The clips proved popular with one of the TikTok posts drawing more than 39,000 views and 4000 likes.

They also landed the 19-year-old in legal hot water on the back of new anti-hooning laws introduced in a statewide crackdown on the dangerous behaviour.

Hamblin pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on Monday to two counts of unlawful filming of hooning, laws which the state government introduced in April.

The most popular video, which had been tagged as at Kinkuna Beach near Bundaberg but was from Double Island Point, showed an Isuzu D-Max and Nissan Patrol doing burnouts at the tourist spot on May 28, 2023.

The court heard one of the occupants was hanging out the window holding a “drive safely” sign as the vehicle tore up the sand.

A second video showed a 4WD skidding along the beach.

Hamblin did not know any of the people involved in the hooning.

Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Jed Padraic Hamblin what he had filmed at the popular Double Island Point tourist spot and shared on social media was “environmental vandalism that endangers the lives of people”. Photo: Craig Warhurst/The Gympie Times

Police prosecutor Mel Campbell said Hamblin told police during an interview he had “just filmed them and posted them onto his TikTok account” as a way of documenting things.

The account has more than 2000 followers.

Sergeant Campbell said sharing the clips was “encouraging people” to partake in similar behaviour, with hooning now having become “a very serious offence in the community”.

Duty lawyer Laura Nightingale told the court Hamblin, who appeared in court wearing a suit, had no criminal history.

Ms Nightingale said Hamblin “wasn’t really aware it was illegal to film such activity” when he shot the footage.

He was a popular member of his local surf lifesaving community who had won awards, completed Year 12 and launched his own YouTube channel for mentoring aspiring young fishermen.

He had been working as a subcontractor for a rendering company as part of a “gap year before applying for the Queensland police service”.

There was concern this was going be a “barrier” to his aspirations.

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Jed Hamblin was placed on a $500 good behaviour bond for six months, owing to his clean record and effort to “make a really good go” of his life, which included winning awards as a surf lifesaver.

The teen was supported at court by his mother and his sister, who sat in the gallery until invited forward by Magistrate Bevan Hughes to join the 19-year-old at the bench.

Mr Hughes said Hamblin was an “intelligent, hardworking” young man who had made a “serious mistake”.

“What you’re filming is environmental vandalism that endangers the lives of people,” Mr Hughes said.

The nature of how serious hooning had become among the community was reflected in the penalties which could apply under the new laws, Mr Hughes said.

These included maximum fines of up to $6400 and one year jail for the most extreme offenders and there was no provision for officers to simply issue a fine, he said.

However owing to his clean record and his effort to “make a really good go” of his young life to date, Mr Hughes instead placed Hamblin on a $500 good behaviour bond for six months.

No convictions were recorded.

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Originally published as Jed Padraic Hamblin appears in court after filming Double Island hoons