Named: 11 Warwick attackers guilty of assault
From unprovoked drunken attacks and frenzied street fights to assaulting a cop and more. Here are some of the violent offenders who’ve recently landed in Warwick’s courts.
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A number of shocking and brutal assaults are brought before the Warwick courts each year, with the number of violent attacks committed in the area continuing to rise.
A total of 88 assaults have been reported in the Warwick police district in the past 12 months, up from 72 in the year prior.
From a woman who launched an unprovoked and alcohol-fuelled attack on an innocent bystander to a father who repeatedly punched a woman in the head, these are 11 Warwick attackers who pleaded guilty to assault:
Warwick father punches woman in head twice on night out
HAYDEN SHANE ALLDRIDGE
A Warwick father of five narrowly avoided time behind bars after punching a woman in the head twice in a violent drunken assault on a night out.
Hayden Shane Alldridge was at the Malt House late on March 7 last year when he got into an argument with the woman and her friends, which the court heard was sparked by a history of bad blood.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said the 30-year-old refused to leave until he was forcibly removed by security, at which point he took off his shirt and continued to hurl verbal abuse.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard the conflict between Alldridge and the other group continued to escalate until he punched the woman twice in the jaw, leaving her with bruising and swelling.
Alldridge pleaded guilty to five counts of drug driving, three counts of possessing dangerous drugs, and two counts each of possessing drug utensils and contravening a police direction.
He pleaded guilty to a further one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm, evading police, obstructing police, public nuisance, failure to leave a licensed premises, and unlicensed driving.
Alldridge was sentenced to 10 months‘ jail with immediate release on parole.
The Warwick man was also fined $6672.45 and disqualified from driving for two years and three months.
Former boxing champion attacks woman in Warwick
KAITLIN GAYE STAGG
A woman suffered a bleeding nose and bruising to the right side of her face after Kaitlin Gaye Stagg “snapped” outside a Warwick pub and punched her twice in the face.
In CCTV footage played in Warwick Magistrates Court, the victim was seen sitting on the ground outside the Horse and Jockey Hotel Motel before Stagg walked directly up to her and assaulted her.
Security guards then intervened to remove Stagg, who Magistrate Bevan Manthey said held a national title for boxing.
Stagg pleaded not guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm in a public place while being adversely affected by an intoxicated substance.
Defence lawyer Bonnie O’Brien said Stagg’s group of friends had an altercation with that of the victim earlier in the evening.
The court heard Stagg had a limited memory of her attack on the victim because she was “quite intoxicated”.
Magistrate Bevan Manthey told Stagg she was fortunate the other woman did not sustain any serious or long-term injuries in the unprovoked assault.
“Although this is at the lower end, it was out of the blue and went out towards a lady that was not expecting it and sitting on the footpath at the time,” Mr Manthey said.
Stagg was sentenced to nine months jail with immediate release on parole.
Dad assaults police and smashes car
A Warwick father who smashed his own car to intimidate his partner and then injured a police officer narrowly avoided jail time.
The 44-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to three counts of wilful damage and one count of serious assault of a police officer.
Police prosecutor Ken Wiggan told Warwick Magistrates Court that in March, 2019 the man smashed his own car with an axe or shovel following an argument with his partner.
When police later tried to intervene, the man then pushed an officer who fell onto his gun holster, injuring his hip.
The man’s partner wrote a letter to the court in support of his otherwise good character, which defence lawyer Sarah Campbell argued demonstrated how her client’s behaviour had changed.
“As outlined in his partner’s letter to the court, he’s taken steps to address what is both an alcohol issue and an aggression issue,” she said.
The man was sentenced to a dual order probation with three months’ jail, immediately suspended for 12 months.
Warwick father slaps neighbour in booze-fuelled assault
CLINTON JAMES BORMOLINI
A Warwick father slapped his neighbour around the head during an alcohol-fuelled altercation over a parked car.
The confrontation between Clinton James Bormolini and his neighbour broke out on September 20 last year in an easement between the pair’s homes, where the other man’s car was parked.
Warwick Magistrates Court was told the 42-year-old shouted at his neighbour over the fence to move the car and abused him for parking it on council-owned land.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said the other man tried to move the vehicle but it had a flat battery and wouldn’t start, which only further enraged Bormolini.
“He became agitated, approached the victim and slapped him on the head, causing him some pain,” Sergeant de Lissa said.
Defence lawyer Clare Hine said the assault was a flare-up in an ongoing dispute between her client and his neighbour,
“He had been drinking and he tells me his judgment was certainly blurred, and he’s very remorseful for his behaviour,” Ms Hine said.
Bormolini pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and was placed on probation for nine months.
NO CONVICTION RECORDED
Woman bites cop in back of ambulance
JASMINE SHERALYN MARGARE BUCKLAND
A Warwick woman pleaded guilty to assault after she bit a police officer trying to restrain her during a violent episode in the back of an ambulance.
Police were called to assist paramedics at a Dragon Street home on December 24 last year, where Jasmine Sheralyn Margare Buckland was suffering a mental health episode.
Warwick Magistrates Court was told the 22-year-old was sedated and put in an ambulance to be escorted by paramedics and police to hospital.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said Buckland slipped free from her restraints a short way into the journey and began “acting aggressively, thrashing her arms and legs around”.
“Her behaviour posed significant risk to her and Queensland Ambulance Service personnel in the back of the vehicle, so the officer reached around her in a type of bear hug in an attempt to prevent her hurting herself,” Sergeant de Lissa said.
“She bit his left forearm, clamping down for three or four seconds before releasing. He sustained a defined bite mark with bruising and broken skin around the area.
Buckland pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.
She was placed on probation for nine months and no conviction was recorded.
Sports coach punches brother in face
A Warwick sports coach who punched his brother in the face during an argument claimed the assault was driven by months of escalating tensions while living together.
The conflict came to a head when the Warwick man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was woken up by his sibling and the other man’s partner yelling in the kitchen.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard the 54-year-old walked through the house, commenting on a few items he believed had gone missing since his brother moved in, then returned to the kitchen and got into a verbal argument with his sibling.
Police prosecutor Ken Wiggan said it wasn’t until the man’s brother swore at him that violence broke out, with the man putting his sibling in a headlock and punching him once in the face.
The man’s brother was left with a graze and swelling on his left cheek after the assault.
The court was told a domestic violence order had since been put in place.
Defence lawyer Hamish Chapman contended the Warwick man took his brother and his partner in about three months prior to the assault in an attempt to help them beat their drug addiction.
“It doesn’t excuse his behaviour, Your Honour, but in a situation where he’s taken in his brother off the streets into his own home and he’s insulted in his own kitchen having taken this man in, it’s understandable but not excusable by any means,” he said.
The man pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.
He was fined $350 and no conviction was recorded.
Warwick man assaults police officer with his couch
BENJAMIN JAMES NUNNS
A Warwick man barricaded himself inside his home when cops came knocking, but didn’t stop resisting even as police forced their way inside, seriously assaulting one of the officers during the ordeal.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard police attended Benjamin James Nunns’ home on another matter, but upon their arrival Nunns blocked off the entries to the house.
Police prosecutor Ken Wiggan said the 29-year-old man was asked repeatedly to open the front door.
Once police were inside, Nunns somehow managed to lift a couch and toss it towards one of the officers.
“He used his hand to push the couch away and hyper-extended his thumb,” Sergeant Wiggan said.
Nunns was then followed into the kitchen and handcuffed before being taken to the Warwick watch-house.
He pleaded guilty to one count of serious assault of police and two counts of obstructing police.
He was fined $800 and no conviction was recorded.
Man assaults former SDRC CEO
PETER LESLEY SMITH
A Killarney man has claimed a frustrating six years of unresolved complaints to Southern Downs Regional Council drove him to the assault of former chief executive David Keenan.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard that Peter Lesley Smith became “agitated” while visiting the SDRC chambers in Warwick, swearing loudly and banging his cane on a door with “a large amount of force”.
The 61-year-old grabbed then-CEO David Keenan around the neck, threatened to hit another council employee with his walking stick, and briefly struggled with a police officer who had tried to intervene.
Defence lawyer Peter Sloane said while Smith conceded to “losing it” during the altercation, the frustration stemmed from dozens of unresolved complaints about incorrect rates charges and dog attacks on his own small dog.
Smith was convicted of one count each of common assault, assaulting a police officer, threatening violence with a weapon, and public nuisance.
He was fined $600 and no conviction was recorded.
Frustrated Warwick mum assaults child’s bully
A Warwick mum who endured seeing her special needs son subjected to prolonged bullying by his schoolmates was charged with assault after taking matters into her own hands.
The 44-year-old woman said a physical attack on her son was the catalyst to the decision to stop her car and approach a 13-year-old boy.
Police prosecutor Ken Wiggan said the woman, who was not named to protect the identity of the children involved, verbally abused the boy and called him names.
Sergeant Wiggan said she at one point grabbed the boy by the face and asked, “Are you listening to me? Are you paying attention?”
Warwick Magistrates Court heard the woman made the decision to approach the boy after her son was physically attacked days earlier.
Magistrate Julian Noud acknowledged the “genuine remorse” of the woman, who was visibly upset during her appearance.
“While I fully appreciate your offending has occurred in extreme frustration and concern for your own child, your actions that day cannot be tolerated and border on being vengeful or spiteful actions by you,” he said.
The woman pleaded guilty to common assault and was placed on a $500 good behaviour bond.
No conviction was recorded.
Warwick teen assaults trolley collector
CASSIDY ROBERT RYAN
A Warwick teen who tried to start a fight with a trolley collector outside the town’s shopping centre has claimed he was “incensed” by a comment from his victim.
The employee was gathering trolleys on Grafton Street outside Rose City Shoppingworld when he noticed Cassidy Robert Ryan interfering with the shopping carts.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard the victim shouted at the 19-year-old, saying “Get the f — k away from the trolleys!”.
Ryan then challenged the trolley collector to a fight and shoved him in the chest twice in further attempts to provoke him.
The violence did not escalate further, and neither man was injured.
Defence lawyer Clare Hine told the court her client was incensed by the other man’s comment, but acknowledged his response was disproportionate and expressed remorse for his actions.
Ryan pleaded guilty to one count of common assault.
He was fined $250 and his conviction was not recorded.
18yo assaults woman in Warwick main street
BENJAMIN KHAN JAMES WILKINSON
A Warwick teenager unleashed a violent assault on a friend and an unsuspecting woman at a busy main street shop.
Benjamin Khan James Wilkinson was with his father and an unnamed friend at Spano’s IGA just after 7pm on March 26 when a physical confrontation broke out between the friend and another man near the checkout.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard both parties left the store and walked out onto Palmerin Street, where the 18-year-old Wilkinson hurled his carton of milk at the car the other man had just got into.
His throw was a slight misfire and sprayed milk across another woman’s car.
Prosecutor Bettina Trenear said the bystander told the Warwick man to “knock it off”, to which he responded by calling her “a f — king mole” and throwing a second item at the back of her car smashing the tailgate.
Ms Trenear told the court the teenager kicked the car before grabbing the woman by the arms and hanging on until he was pulled away by his father.
The woman was left with bruising to both forearms, wrists, and hands.
Ms Trenear said Wilkinson continued to act aggressively when police arrived, lashing out when they were trying to put him on the ground and keeping his hands underneath him to prevent being handcuffed.
Defence lawyer Phillip Crook told the Warwick court his client had Aspergers, which meant he struggled with emotional intuition and gauging the feelings of others, but knew now he’d done the wrong thing and was remorseful for his crimes.
Wilkinson pleaded guilty to one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm, public nuisance, wilful damage, and obstructing police.
He was placed on probation for 12 months and no conviction was recorded.
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Originally published as Named: 11 Warwick attackers guilty of assault
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