Nicholas Kenneth Randall Watson pleads guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to violent attacks on women, attempting to injure police dog

A man had only been released from prison a short time when he started taking ice and ‘going downhill’, attacking women and even a police dog

A man has been handed a jail term after pleading guilty to multiple domestic violence offences.

A man with an extensive history of violence will remain locked up after an Ipswich court this week heard details of another two dozen charges against him, including attacks against women and a police dog.

His latest acts of brutality occurred at a railway station car park where after having sex in a woman’s car, Nicholas Watson bashed her, breaking her nose, before stealing her phone.

Ipswich Magistrates Court heard the qualified butcher also tried to assault a police dog when fleeing police.

Appearing from jail via video-link, Nicholas Kenneth Randall Watson, 41, a butcher and father of two from Woodend, pleaded guilty to 24 offences including assaulting a woman causing bodily harm (domestic violence) on January 2 at Trinder Park rail station; serious assault police; attempting to injure a police dog on December 19 last year; obstructing police; forcible entry at East Ipswich on December 10, 2020; public nuisance; trespass at East Ipswich; wilful damage; fraudulent use of a bank card; drug possession; common assault – domestic violence offence on January 2; wilful damage; stealing; failing to appear at court; and bail breaches.

The court heard one of his crimes involved three patrons of a gym on Brisbane Road last December whose gear was stolen.

The owner of a stolen iPhone was able to track the device to a shop in Dinmore where it was found by police in a car boot.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Bernard Elmore tended police body-worn camera footage video of an incident involving Watson and the police dog.

In the footage the police officer can be heard yelling out to “stop fighting my dog”, and “get your hands off my dog”.

Sen. Const. Elmore said Watson had a 10-page criminal history that included convictions for violence, assaults causing bodily harm; robbery, assaulting police, and domestic violence.

He said the new charges breached his suspended nine-month jail sentence imposed by a Redcliffe court for assaulting a woman at Kippa-Ring and causing her bodily harm on May 29 last year.

The court heard that in the new assault charge at the railway station car park the woman had been yelling out for help and Watson swung his arm with his forearm hitting her nose.

The impact ripped skin off. He also struck her in the left side of the face.

The injured woman fell to the road and had to be treated at Logan hospital for a broken nose.

She suffered two blackened eyes and deep bruising to her face.

“It was unjustified violence toward her. He should be utterly ashamed of his actions,” Sen. Const. Elmore said.

Defence lawyer Amy Zanders said Watson had now spent seven months in jail.

She said Watson instructed her that he was being driven to Woodridge in the woman’s car when they pulled over into the station car park to have sex.

He said there was an argument and that the woman bit him on the chest so he “backhanded her”.

Ms Zanders said that in the incident with the police dog Watson had been bitten and “was trying to pull the dog off.”

The incidents occurred after he had been released from jail and “began using methylamphetamine heavily and started going downhill.”

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess said the agreed police facts stated Watson forcibly placed the woman in a headlock, applied pressure around her neck and when her glasses fell off he stomped on them.

The court heard he accepted the facts.

Ms Sturgess said the incident with the police dog occurred after police tried to arrest him at 1.40am at the Racehorse Hotel.

Watson ran away and scaled a high fence and when police dog Cozza and his handler tracked him to a yard he ran through a fence causing it to snap and fell to the ground.

He began fighting off the police dog despite being repeatedly told not to.

In a separate offence Ms Sturgess said Watson went to a house at East Ipswich just before midnight and told a woman “he was going to slice her up”.

Police afterwards said he appeared to be drug affected.

Ms Sturgess said his assault and verbal abuse of the woman at the Trinder Park rail station was “quite disgusting”.

She noted that another of his offences involved pushing a woman to the ground in a large bindi patch causing her to cry.

Watson was sentenced to two years jail. With the 210 days already served he was given immediate eligibility to begin making his parole application.

Originally published as Nicholas Kenneth Randall Watson pleads guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to violent attacks on women, attempting to injure police dog