Theft, drugs, drink driving: 12 Sunshine Coast tradies in court
A methed-up concreter who stole more than $13,000 worth of tools and a drunk plumber who flashed his genitals to families are just a few of the Sunshine Coast tradies in trouble with the law.
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They’re good on the tools, but these 12 Sunshine Coast tradies aren’t so good at obeying the law.
From a methed-up concreter who stole more than $13,000 worth of tools, to a drunk plumber who flashed his genitals to families, these are the local tradesmen from the past year who faced court.
CONVICTIONS RECORDED:
Daniel John Phillips
A Maroochydore serial thief has been given a stern warning as he was sentenced for his latest stealing spree.
Daniel John Phillips, 43, has been committing dishonesty offences since 1997 and continues to find himself back before the court.
Police prosecutor Mark Burrell said Phillips had stolen clothing to the value of $257 from Tarocash in the Sunshine Plaza on New Year's Day, 2022.
“The staff member observed him placing the items under his T-shirt … she asked him if he was going to pay for the items but he left and security were called,” Mr Burrell said.
Phillips was also charged with stealing two energy drinks and sunglasses from a service station in Southport.
The concreter pleaded guilty to the two offences of stealing in Maroochydore Magistrates Court.
Magistrate Raelene Ellis pointed out Phillips’ history of dishonesty offences, telling the court he had stolen on five occasions in 2021.
“You need to stop stealing,” she said before fining Phillips $800 and recording convictions.
Shay Tuwhare Toa Smith
Scaffolder Shay Tuwhare Toa Smith, 31, will serve jail time within the community after he pleaded guilty to three disqualified drives in Caloundra Magistrates Court.
Police prosecutor Stu Lydford said Smith was found behind the wheel on September 2 in Birtinya, December 9 in Marcoola and December 20, 2021, in Maroochydore.
Sergeant Lydford said the last two drives were committed while he was awaiting sentencing for his September disqualified driving.
Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of driving disqualified and was sentenced to a nine month intensive corrections order.
He then had three months of his suspended sentence activated and was given immediate parole while the other suspended term of imprisonment was committed back to the district court.
The 31-year-old was then disqualified from driving for six years. Convictions were recorded.
Justin Shane McNab
Two victims were left battered after a well-known Noosaville tradie clobbered them during a fevered flurry of violence.
Justin Shane McNab was in the toilets at the Rolling Rock nightclub on Hastings Street in the early hours of June 21, 2021, when he and another man pushed past each other.
The 30-year-old stonemason said, “watch who you barge mate”, with the two shoving each other, before McNab punched his victim in the face.
Noosa Magistrates Court heard the victim suffered cuts, bruises and swelling to his face, with the punch breaking his glasses.
McNab had also punched another man in the head while he was walking to a taxi rank the same morning, and left the victim lying on the road as he walked off.
McNab pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and public nuisance and was sentenced to six months’ jail, suspended for 12 months.
He was then ordered to pay $1000 compensation, as well as $489 in restitution. Convictions were recorded.
Paul Anthony Dyason
A heavily intoxicated roofer was dealt a hefty fine after he shouted racial slurs at a group of young people and accused them of hurting his friend.
Police were called to a disturbance outside the Caloundra KFC on Bowman Rd involving Paul Anthony Dyason at 3pm on November 17, 2021.
A witness told police that Dyason, 50, had been harrassing a group of young people sitting on tables outside the fast-food venue.
Police prosecutor Stephen Potter said Dyason started to speak about an incident that had occured the previous weekend involving a traffic accident and made racial slurs referring to the group at KFC.
“He was calling them n----rs and believed they knew something about the incident,” Sergeant Potter said.
Back at the watch house, Dyason was searched and police found a glass pipe that had residue of methamphetamine.
Dyason pleaded guilty to three offences in Caloundra Magistrates Court on February 16, 2022, including public nuisance, possession of property used in the commision of a drug offence and failing to appear.
Dyason was fined $1500 for the offences and had to forfeit the glass pipe. A conviction was recorded.
Brock Jeffrey Winston
A former professional motocross rider turned concreter was arrested by police after a drug raid on his Eumundi home uncovered a cocktail of party and controlled drugs.
Brock Jeffrey Winston was at his home in Eumundi about 7.45am on May 27, 2021 when police descended on the property in the search for narcotics.
Maroochydore Magistrates Court heard the 34-year-old Eumundi man had been found with 50g of marijuana, 0.44g of MDMA and a small amount of cocaine and testosterone.
Police prosecutor Lee Allen said scales were found by police, which Winston said was used for weighing his cocaine, with all of the drugs being for the 34-year-old’s personal use.
The court heard the testosterone had been left at Winston’s by a friend.
Winston pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing drugs, unlawful possession of a controlled drug, and possessing property suspected of being used in connection with the commission of a drug offence.
He was fined $1300, with a conviction recorded.
Andrew John Moussalli
A Buderim electrician has avoided months of court proceedings by being sentenced for drug and driving offences after he was arrested only seven days ago.
Andrew John Moussalli, 41, escaped actual prison time after he was handed a 12-month suspended sentence, probation and fines for a series of 21 offences including producing drugs, evading police and unlicensed driving while disqualified by the court.
Moussalli, a father-of-three, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on October 7, 2021, to a total of 21 offences.
He was handed a $7000 fine for evading police, a 12-month probation order for the drug-related charges, disqualified from driving for three years and a 12-month suspended sentence for driving offences.
Police prosecutor James Allen said Moussalli was arrested after police found cannabis plants, cannabinoids, testosterone and other drug related material in his Buderim home on October 1.
Mr Allen said the plants ranged in size from 30 cm to 1.5m in height and officers also found “a cooking pot with wet cannabis (Moussalli) stated he had poured ethanol over cannabis and was making hash” for a friend with cancer.
Moussalli was convicted on all charges.
Daniel Malcolm Ritchie
A tradie was so drunk a police officer said he seemed he was trying to find the street when he crashed his company car into a bus stop, a court has heard.
Daniel Malcolm Ritchie, 32, was fined $1500 and ordered to pay $1246 restitution for the bus stop in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court.
Magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist told Ritchie the court sentence would be a day he would “never forget”.
Ritchie returned a blood-alcohol content of 0.305 per cent at a police station after his arrest on October 19, 2021, and was rushed to Nambour Hospital.
Police prosecutor David Hoffmann told the court it appeared Ritchie was lost and was trying to find a street while driving when he accelerated and ploughed into a bus stop in Mount Coolum.
The court heard motorists were forced to alter their driving due to the electrician’s “strange and erratic” driving.
Ritchie pleaded guilty to drink driving and driving without due care and attention and was disqualified from driving for 13 months. Convictions were recorded.
Adam Wayne Parnell
A Sunshine Coast concreter who stole more than $13,000 worth of tools from the vans of fellow tradesman was in a “methamphetamine haze” while he committed the crimes, a court has heard.
Adam Wayne Parnell, 28, was given probation in Maroochydore Magistrates Court in November of 2021 after he pleaded guilty to five charges including entering premises by break and commit indictable offence, possessing tainted property, possessing ammunition and possessing knuckle dusters.
The court heard Parnell was high on methamphetamine when he broke into two tradesmen’s vans in May and July of 2021.
Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin said the crimes were planned and an effort was made to wipe the vehicle after the offences.
He sentenced Parnell to 18 months probation and ordered him to pay $13,787 in restitution.
A conviction was recorded.
CONVICTIONS NOT RECORDED:
Jack David O’Brien
A 20-year-old roofer has lost his job as a result of a “stupid mistake” where he drove on the wrong side of the highway, crashed into a car and fled the scene.
Jack David O’Brien was given 120 hours of community service to be completed over the next year after pleading guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court to dangerous driving and failing to provide particulars at the scene of a crash.
The court heard O’Brien drove down an exit ramp onto the Bruce Highway near Forest Glen at 12.30am on July 25, 2021, driving northbound in the southbound lane into oncoming traffic.
Another driver noticed O’Brien’s headlights coming towards him and tried to pull to the right to avoid O’Brien who was swerving from side to side.
The defendant’s car hit the passenger side of the victim’s vehicle.
O’Brien’s front tyre was pushed up under the vehicle, but he sped away from the scene with sparks flying.
He lost his licence for nine months, meaning he would have also lost his job as a roofer.
Magistrate Benson said it was a “stupid mistake” and ordered him to pay $650 in restitution. No convictions were recorded.
Luke Davidson
A drunk plumber started fighting security guards moments after flashing families playing near a popular Sunshine Coast surf club.
Luke Davidson was fined $800 in Maroochydore Magistrates Court after he pleaded guilty to three charges including committing a public nuisance within a licensed venue and creating a disturbance in licensed premise.
Police prosecutor Lee Allan said Davidson was drunk and in an outside smoking area of the Alex Surf Club at Alexandra Headland when he dropped his shorts and flashed his buttocks and genitalia at men, women and children below him in a nearby family BBQ area on October 2, 2021.
“He was seen to drop his shorts and began rotating his buttocks and genital area in the direction of pedestrians,” Senior Constable Allan said.
Constable Allan said security guards had asked the plumber to leave the venue when he became irate and agitated.
“He told staff he would be staying where he was,” he said.
“(Davidson) engaged in a physical altercation with security officers, it was somewhat violent.”
When police arrived they found Davidson wrestling with security guards on the ground of the surf club.
He did not record convictions.
Philip Butterworth
The owner of a family-owned business has copped a $25,000 fine after one of his workers fell from a roof and spent two weeks recovering in hospital.
Noosa Roofing owner Philip Butterworth pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on October 26, to one charge of failing to comply with a workplace health and safety duty.
The court heard Butterworth failed to inform one of his workers of a hazard when they were working at a two-storey Peregian Beach house on April 23, 2020.
Earlier in the day, Butterworth had informed his workers of the uncovered polycarbonate clear sheeting that could not withstand a substantial amount of weight and it had been covered by the site supervisor with two pieces of plywood as a safety measure.
Towards the end of the work day, the plywood had been removed by someone and Butterworth failed to let one of his long-term workers know that the clear material was exposed once again.
The worker, who had worked at Noosa Roofing for 14 years, stepped onto the clear sheeting, fell through it and onto the brick paving and concrete stairs below.
He fell approximately 5.1m and sustained “substantial injuries”, required surgery, stitches to his face and was hospitalised for two weeks.
Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin fined Butterworth $25,000 for the offence. No conviction was recorded.
Jordan Andrew Midolo
A 24-year-old Beerwah tradie had guns pulled on him by police after he crashed into their car while driving drunk and on MDMA, a court heard.
Jordan Andrew Midolo had been partying at a New Year’s Eve event in Beerwah in 2021 when he decided to head out to pick up some more party supplies.
Police prosecutor Stu Lydford said the tradie had been driving along Roberts Rd in Beerwah when he saw police perform a U-turn behind him.
Caloundra Magistrates Court heard Midolo panicked at the sight of police and veered off into a ditch and became bogged.
The 24-year-old tried to drive out of the predicament before he revved his car and crashed into the police vehicle in front of him.
A small amount of MDMA and cocaine was found on Midolo following the incident.
Midolo was ordered to pay $491.14 compensation.
A conviction was only recorded for the drink driving offence.
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Originally published as Theft, drugs, drink driving: 12 Sunshine Coast tradies in court
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