Matthew Lee Ireland jailed for Maryborough prison assault

“You will be paying me to stay in this unit.” Those were the words a skinny, heavily tattooed prisoner with a mullet said to another inmate as he punched him in the face in a Queensland prison.

Matthew Lee Ireland, 28, punched another prisoner in the face at Maryborough Correctional Centre on January 16, 2022, at 6pm.

“You will be paying me to stay in this unit.”

Those were the words a skinny, heavily tattooed prisoner with a mullet said to another inmate as he punched him in the face at Maryborough Correctional Centre on January 16, 2022, at 6pm.

The thug, Matthew Lee Ireland, had racked up a 15-page criminal record by the time he was sentenced for the prison king hit on August 28, 2023.

His record includes stealing cars, breaking into homes, burglaries, possessing shortened firearms and explosives, along with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, Rockhampton District Court heard this week.

Ireland, 28, was captured on CCTV hitting the victim with “considerable force” while saying “you will be paying me to stay in this unit”, crown prosecutor Ryan Godfrey said.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Ireland essentially stood over the victim in relation to a form of prison protection.

Mr Godfrey said the victim was assaulted by another inmate a short time later and underwent surgery to have plates and screws inserted into his jaw on January 19.

He said when police spoke with Ireland in September about the matter, he told them he had been on the phone to his partner at the time and she had disclosed the victim had tried to rape her so he put the phone down, walked up to the victim, punched him and went back to his phone call to say goodnight to “his girl”.

Judge Clarke did not accept Ireland’s version of events.

Defence barrister Sheridan Shaw said her client had a disadvantaged childhood, living with his drug-addicted mother until he was 10 years old before moving in with other relatives.

She said he started smoking marijuana about that time and “progressed to harder drugs”.

Ms Shaw said he left school when he was 14 and worked on a cane farm for a time.

“Most of his adult life has been spent in custody,” she said.

Ms Shaw said he had been in a relationship for two and a half years and his partner was due to give birth later this year.

Judge Clarke said he was “not sure that (getting someone pregnant) was a good idea considering you don’t know when you will get out of prison”.

Ireland pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm and was sentenced to two years prison.

Judge Clarke ordered the sentence be served cumulative on sentences handed down in Mackay Magistrates Court in August 2022 and April 2023, with immediate parole eligibility.

Originally published as Matthew Lee Ireland jailed for Maryborough prison assault