The 5 most shocking Gympie court trials we couldn’t look away from
From the shocking standoff, which was captured on video, to a woman found guilty of dumping her de facto partner’s headless torso on the side of a road and setting it alight, here are five of the most unforgettable Gympie trials the courts have dealt with. SEE THE VIDEO
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The Gympie Regional Council’s Mary St offices turned into a crime scene in May 2016 when a sovereign land-rights protest turned into a brawl involving then-Mayor Mick Curran.
What followed was one of the most bizarre trials ever to go before a Gympie court.
From the shocking standoff, which was captured on video and later released by The Gympie Times, to a woman found guilty of dumping her de facto partner’s headless torso on the side of a road and setting it alight, here are five of the most unforgettable Gympie trials the courts have dealt with in recent years.
Mayor vs land rights activists in wild council brawl
Wit-boooka (charged as Gary Tomlinson), of Southside, Djaki Widjung (Diane Redden-King), of Curra, and Djaa ‘mee Gular Djan du Kabi (Mervyn Tomlinson), of Bundaberg were each charged with multiple offences including forcible entry, common assault, and assault with bodily harm against Mr Curran stemming from the 2016 incident, and the matter went to trial in 2019.
Judge Bernard Porter said he had determined that the trio went to the council offices “to carry out a protest relating to indigenous land rights”.
Mervyn Tomlinson and Diane Redden-King had peaceful intentions and at first, Wit-boooka did as well.
However Wit-boooka then climbed over the reception desk into a non-public area of the council offices. He then told the surprised young woman behind the counter he was evicting her and if she didn‘t want to get hurt, she should leave.
He then walked to the contact centre room and told staff to leave, using “a forceful and aggressive voice”, the court heard.
A senior council executive and another temporary staff member tried to intervene and block Wit-boooka‘s path but he pushed them back in what Judge Porter called “an aggressive act done in anger”.
The matter would later escalate when “Mr Curran struck (Wit-boooka) with an open hand to the bridge of his nose, which broke,” Mr Porter told the court during sentencing.
“This sparked off a melee in which (Wit-boooka) struggled with Mr Curran.”
No charges were laid against Mr Curran, and no adverse comments were made by the judge about his conduct.
Wit-boooka was found guilty of three counts of common assault and forcible entry to the council‘s non-public area.
Djaa ‘mee Gular Djan du Kabi was found guilty of one charge of serious assault on a police officer.
Djaki Widjung was acquitted of all charges against her.
The three were acquitted of all charges alleging harm against Mr Curran.
Wit-boooka to two months jail, suspended for 12 months, while Mervyn Tomlinson was ordered to perform 40 hours community service.
Cedar Pocket torso case: Lindy Williams found guilty of murdering her partner George Gerbic
Lindy Yvonne Williams was found guilty of dumping her de facto partner’s headless torso on the side of a road and setting it alight has after a murder trial in 2018.
Williams, 60, had denied murdering George Gerbic on the Sunshine Coast in September 2013, but admitted dumping and setting fire to his torso.
A Brisbane Supreme Court jury rejected her account that she acted in self defence in killing Mr Gerbic during a fight at their home.
Williams had pleaded guilty to interfering with his corpse at the start of the trial.
The court heard Williams dismembered Mr Gerbic’s body with a saw, before trying to cover up her actions for 10 months by telling friends and family he was overseas.
Williams was sentenced to life in prison, as jurors reached their guilty verdict after a two-week trial.
Trio found guilty of murder after Gympie esky death, but successfully appeal and have their conviction downgraded to manslaughter
Stephen John Armitage, his son Matthew Leslie Armitage and William Francis Dean used “cruel” means to torture Shaun Barker to death near Gympie in 2013, and were jailed for life five years later after being convicted of murder.
But last year the Queensland Court of Appeal downgraded the murder conviction to manslaughter and dropped the torture charges.
The trio faced Brisbane Supreme Court last February, where Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle said all three had shown a “complete absence of remorse” and should be jailed for at least 10 years.
But it was determined evidence pointed to it being in the best interests of the men to have kept Mr Barker alive, as they wanted information from him.
Early this year, Stephen Armitage and Dean were re-sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Matthew Armitage was re-sentenced to eight.
32-year-old Gympie father found guilty of brutal assault
A 32-year-old Gympie father on trial for viciously punching two men in a Mary Street pub was found guilty in Gympie District Court in March following a four-day trial.
The jury took about a day to deliver its verdict on charges against Kenneth James Hampton of grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning bodily harm.
When Hampton was led back into the courtroom he appeared angry and said to a young woman sitting in the public gallery, “I‘m f.....”.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard from multiple witnesses who gave their recollection of the events leading up to a broken jaw for one man and brain injuries for another.
‘It’s all over’: Woman sobs after being found not guilty of child sex abuse
Just last month a woman sobbed and embraced family, saying “it’s all over” after being found not guilty of 11 historical child sexual abuse charges following a lengthy trial in the Gympie District Court.
The woman, now aged in her thirties, had been accused of two counts of rape and nine counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12, but the jury took just a few hours to reach a unanimous not guilty verdict on all charges by Wednesday (July 21) afternoon.
The trial lasted over a week in total, taking up the majority of the most recent District Court sittings.
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Originally published as The 5 most shocking Gympie court trials we couldn’t look away from
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