Court recap: Here’s what you missed this week in courtrooms across the Southern Downs
From a road rage incident, drug busts and a frightening attack at a Dalby pub, here are the latest cases from Southern Downs’ courtrooms. Here’s what you missed this week.
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From a road rage incident, drug busts and a frightening attack at a Dalby pub, here are the latest cases from Southern Downs’ courtrooms. Here’s what you missed this week.
Woman’s frightening pub assault exposed
A court has been told a mother of four threatened another woman with a barstool before arming herself with a knife, telling the victim “I’ll stab you”, with comments about the assailant’s ex-partner triggering the disturbing altercation.
Warwick woman Kristie Jade Batson, pleaded guilty on Monday in the Rose City’s Magistrates Court to a string of charges ranging from assault occasioning bodily harm, public nuisance, stealing and two drug driving charges.
She also pleaded guilty to a failure to appear charge, breach of bail charge as well as two counts of contravening a police direction.
The magistrate described the most “concerning” offending as the assault occasioning bodily harm and public nuisance charges, that related to an incident in Dalby at the Australian Hotel in November 2022.
The 33-year-old got into an altercation with another patron after the punter approached Batson and made a comment regarding an ex-partner, police prosecutor Sergeant Steve de Lissa said.
“They had a short conversation before walking away, before (Batson) turned around and punched the victim on her left cheek, then pushing her and pulling her on the ground by her hair,” Sergeant de Lissa said.
Batson grabbed a barstool and began holding it to the woman in a “threatening manner” and began to swing it.
The court was told Batson yelled “you better watch your back, I’ll come after you and your mum”.
The mum-of-four then grabbed a steak knife from a nearby table, and wielded it saying “I’ll stab you right now” before putting it down.
Magistrate Andrew Cridland was quick to agree with the defence, saying all of the charges related to drug use, and said “there is a serious drug problem here that needs to be addressed.”
“What’s extremely concerning is the knife incident, regarding the number of deaths in this state involving knives. The community needs to be deterred from unprovoked attacks and knife use.”
Batson was sentenced to a two year probation order and convictions were recorded.
Drug addict sentenced
A Stanthorpe drug addict has been jailed after he was busted possessing dangerous drugs, with two Granite Belt officers escorting him out of court after the magistrate delivered a stern warning.
Michael Scott Bartlett was busted possessing drugs hidden in his wallet and pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing dangerous drugs in Stanthorpe Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old was described by his defence lawyer, Clare Hine, as a “meth addict” who was “fully addicted” to the drug.
“Realistically, you need to wake up to yourself and realise what’s going on or you’re going to spend a considerable amount of time in prison. Take this as a lesson and make sure you don’t return here (to court) once you’re out,” Magistrate Andrew Cridland said.
Bartlett was sentenced to a period of six months’ imprisonment, to be released on parole after two months served.
NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED
Roofer busted with drugs
A father-of-two who was busted with drugs and drug paraphernalia has fronted Stanthorpe Magistrates Court.
Southside Brisbane roofer, Kiah James Webster, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing dangerous drugs (schedule 2 drug quality of or exceeding schedule 3) and one charge of possessing used drug utensils.
On April 12, Webster was busted by officers possessing both 5g of cannabis and 40g of magic mushrooms, as well as a used pipe, at Dalveen after a roadside drug test returning a positive reading.
Dis defence lawyer Hamish Chapman told the court the 29-year-old roofer had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“He has a limited history and is a contributing member of society, and if we can manage his issue with drugs, you shouldn’t see much of him again,” Mr Chapman said.
Magistrate Andrew Cridland said it normally wouldn’t be an option to rule out imprisonment for the offences, however he would be more focused on rehabilitation and deterrence in this circumstance.
Webster was sentenced to a probation order for two years.
All property seized was forfeited. No conviction was recorded.
Hefty fine after road rage assault
A Warwick man’s road rage incident with a fellow motorist ended in court after the conflict quickly escalated and it was all caught on film.
Rowan Arthur Barker pleaded guilty in Warwick Magistrates Court on Monday to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.
Barker was busted after his road rage spiralled into an assault following a driving altercation on the New England Highway at Rosenthal Heights on June 29, 2022.
The court was told both men exited their vehicles following an argument over each other’s driving, with the pair yelling at each other from their vehicles.
After stopping and getting out of their vehicles, the court was told the victim filmed Barker approaching him, and Barker was also recording the man.
The victim received bruising to the side of his head after he was struck once by Barker. The man went to hospital following the encounter.
Magistrate Andrew Cridland said that “prison could be within range” for this sort of offending, and noted that Barker had a “history of violence” in his past, however, it had been a significant amount of time since the man had last appeared in front of a magistrate.
Barker was slapped with a $1500 fine, and no conviction was recorded.
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Originally published as Court recap: Here’s what you missed this week in courtrooms across the Southern Downs
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