Darling Downs criminals eligible for parole in 2023 revealed
From drug dealers to child molesters, some of the most horrific criminals on the Downs could be set for release in the new year. See who made the list.
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From violent home invaders to child molesters and murderers, these Darling Downs residents could be back in the community as of next year.
They were the crimes that sent shockwaves through the region, and now these criminals are reaching the point of their sentences where they are deemed eligible for parole.
Some of those on the list have been kept behind bars for failing to meet the strict requirements under the state’s No Body, No Parole laws introduced in August 2017, barring prisoners’ freedom if they fail to co-operate with police to identify a victim’s location.
Here is The Chronicle’s look at some of the region’s inmates who could see the light of freedom once again.
Daniel Stephen Wright
Eligible for parole: January 19, 2023
A late-night fast food run ended in a jail sentence for a Cambooya man after he rammed emergency service vehicles while drug-affected after he was found passed out behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle.
Staff of the Wilsonton McDonald’s restaurant called emergency services about 11.30pm on May 23, 2022 after they found Daniel Stephen Wright asleep behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle in the drive through lane.
The Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told that after being woken, an enraged Wright proceeded to drive forward into a police vehicle before reversing into an ambulance.
Wright was tasered and OC spray was used before the driver’s side window was smashed and he was dragged from the vehicle. A subsequent search uncovered 20mL of the drug GHB, as well as knuckledusters and stolen registration plates.
In total Wright pleaded guilty to 10 offences in September 2022, including dangerous operation of a vehicle while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, obstructing police, unlawful possession of suspected stolen property, unlawful possession of a weapon and possessing a dangerous drug.
Already on parole for a previous armed robbery, acting magistrate Rowan Silva sentenced Wright to two years in jail, and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Axle Glenn Ferris
Eligible for parole: July 22, 2023
One of two men who robbed an Uber driver of his car at knifepoint has been jailed for three years.
Axle Glenn Ferris, 21, and a male co-offender, who has not been identified, were at a Newtown unit complex about 4pm, April 26, 2022, when the Uber driver made a delivery to a neighbouring unit, Toowoomba District Court was told.
Ferris’ associate took out a knife and demanded the keys from the driver, and later picked up Ferris who had run off. The vehicle later crashed into a phone box before being abandoned
Ferris pleaded guilty to armed robbery in company and unlawfully using a motor vehicle.
Judge Bernard Porter KC sentenced Ferris to three years in jail.
Father jailed for molesting ex-partner’s young daughters
Eligible for parole: January 23, 2023
A 32-year-old Toowoomba man who violated the trust placed on him as a carer was sentenced to jail after molesting his ex-partner’s two daughters.
The Toowoomba District Court was told that on three occasions in 2021, the man abused a 10-year-old and 12-year-old girl.
It was heard that on one occasion, after waking from a nightmare, the man followed the 10-year-old back to bed, slid under the covers, held her down, forced his tongue into her mouth and attempted to put his hands under her top despite her telling him to stop, saying that now she was growing and “you can do big people things”.
The man, who cannot be named in order to protect his victims’ privacy, was charged in September 2021 with two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one count of indecent treatment of a child under 10.
Judge Michael Williamson sentenced the man to nine months jail time.
Travis Peter Holborn
Eligible for parole: April 8, 2023
Already on parole for a similar offence, a Toowoomba man was sentenced after a dangerous pursuit along the Warrego Highway.
Polair was used to track Travis Peter Holborn, 30, along the highway after he was spotted speeding and driving a stolen car on the wrong side of the road.
During the police pursuit on August 8, 2022, officers were nearly hit when Holborn drove directly at a police vehicle, before later abandoning one car for another stolen vehicle.
In November 2022 Holborn pleaded guilty to eight offences including two counts of dangerous driving, disqualified driving, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, driving an unregistered and uninsured car, and possessing a Xanax tablet without a prescription.
Magistrate Clare Kelly sentenced Holborn to 15 months in jail, and disqualified him from driving for six years.
Levi James Wilshire
Eligible for parole: June 18, 2023
Lockyer Valley man Levi James Wilshire, who raped a 12-year-old girl three times in two days while also indecently treating her during the same time period, will be eligible for parole next year.
The Gatton 29-year-old had pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 16, and was sentenced in Ipswich District Court in October 2021.
The court was told that between April 2 and April 4, 2020, Wilshire orally and vaginally raped the girl in Gatton, despite the girl telling him to stop and trying to escape.
Judge Orazio Rinaudo sentenced Wilshire to eight years’ jail.
Robert Norman Kelly
Eligible for parole: October 4, 2023
The 32-year-old man was found guilty of breaking into a 75-year-old neighbour’s home and bashing him while he was on a triple-0 call, and was jailed for two years and 10 months.
Robert Norman Kelly was found guilty by trial to the charges of burglary and serious assault of a person over 60 at the Toowoomba District Court in May 2022.
Kelly denied the charges, claiming his girlfriend Carissa Campbell assaulted the victim, however the jury “clearly rejected” his claims.
Kelly and the victim had bad blood, and on October 15, 2022, the victim locked his front door after seeing Kelly approaching. However audio recording played before the court heard the victim screaming as he was assaulted.
Judge Katherine McGuinness sentenced Kelly to two years and 10 months in jail.
Charlie Mark Adams
Eligible for parole: May 2, 2023
A Toowoomba man was sentenced to five years behind bars after he was charged for an attempted knifepoint robbery and beating a staff member at a retirement village.
The Toowoomba District Court was told that on June 23, 2021, Charlie Mark Adams swung a plank of wood at the occupants of a Rockville home after they accused the 25-year-old of looking through their windows.
Adams then went to the nearby Northridge Haven Retirement Village and forced his way into the unit of a 79-year-old woman and 80-year-old man.
Cutting a hole in a flyscreen window, Adams gained entry to a room where a nursing assistant was and he first threatened her with a knife before assaulting her, slamming her head against a wall and kicking her while she was unconscious.
In court in June 2022 Adams pleaded guilty to threatening violence, enter dwelling with intent by break, enter premises with intent and attempted robbery with actual violence while armed.
Trae Matthew Pickering
Eligible for parole: January 21, 2023
A 21-year-old man was jailed in April 2022 for his role in a violent home invasion in Toowoomba which included the theft and torching a car.
Trae Matthew Pickering will start serving out the six year jail term upon the expiration of a three-year term he received for drug trafficking.
Pickering and associates were armed when they went to the home of three young people on August 6, 2020, where they made a number of demands for property, Toowoomba District Court was told.
Pickering later admitted to having been armed with a machete and one of the victims sustained a broken jaw when assaulted.
Judge Alexander Horne-man-Wren declared 542 days of pre-sentence custody as time served and sentenced Pickering to six years in jail.
Tyrone Edwin Delaney
Eligible for parole: September 18, 2023
Tyrone Edwin Delaney was sentenced to six years behind bars for a violent home invasion where he stormed a Toowoomba residence alongside five others, including Trae Matthew Pickering, while armed with machetes.
Despite overwhelming evidence of his involvement in the terrifying crime, Delaney denied he had been at the Hursley Road residence during the robbery on August 6, 2020.
Told by police that DNA from blood found on a lounge room light switch had been matched to him, Delaney claimed he had been at the house three weeks earlier to buy cannabis from a 15-year-old boy who lived at the home, Toowoomba District Court heard.
Despite Delaney maintaining his innocence through the court trial, the jury refused his claims and found him guilty of burglary in the night, two counts of armed robbery in company, and armed robbery in company and wounding.
Judge Deborah Richards in November 2021 sentenced Delaney to six year in jail.
Luke Raymond Hain
Eligible for parole: March 1, 2023
Warwick man Luke Raymond Hain was given jail time after being busted with large amounts of illicit drugs.
Hain fronted Toowoomba Supreme Court after he and co-offence Luke James Weier were found by a police search to have 2oz (56.6g) of meth and 3oz (85g) of ecstasy (MDMA) as well as lesser amounts of cocaine and hallucinogenic drugs in a vehicle
Another 10.49g of meth was found in a bag in the centre console and a subsequent search of the Warwick unit the pair shared turned up 1.113g of meth and 86 films of buprenorphine.
Hain pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs in amounts above 2g and to possessing dangerous drugs.
Justice Martin Burns sentenced Hain to three years in jail from June 2022.
Rodney Michael Cherry
Possible release date: 2023
Double murderer Rodney Michael Cherry, who was jailed for killing his wife and stepdaughter in rural Queensland, is considered a “No Body, No Parole” prisoner.
Cherry was convicted of killing wife Annette Cherry in June 1997 at Springsure, southwest of Rockhampton, and his stepdaughter, Kira Guise, in 1999 near Roma.
He received two life sentences for the murders with a mandatory minimum custodial period of 20 years.
Cherry yelled “I didn’t kill her” in a spectacular spray during a court hearing in November, 2022, to determine his potential release.
He was facing his second parole hearing for the year on November 26, more than 20 years since killing his family members.
Sporting a large grey beard and dressed in prison clothes, he yelled throughout his video link from jail, claiming he never killed his stepdaughter and could find her if he was released from prison.
He appealed his convictions in 2004 but it was dismissed.
At a parole hearing in November, the board met to consider whether Cherry had given satisfactory co-operation in the investigation to find Kira’s body. But Cherry didn’t offer any new information which could help find her.
The board will consider all evidence and deliver a decision on Cherry’s parole next year. Deborah Guise was convicted of her mother’s manslaughter and later perjury after giving false testimony during two Supreme Court trials.
Lyneeka Ann Wilson
Eligible for parole: September 23, 2023
A mother-of-two who was found to be running a large meth operation and accumulated more than $410,000 in five months was sentenced to almost a decade in jail.
Lyneeka Ann Wilson appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court in September 2021 where she pleaded guilty to a number of drug offences, including trafficking methylamphetamine.
The court was told for five months between July and December in 2019 the 38-year-old was involved in selling wholesale quantities of methylamphetamine to other drug dealers, as well as street level users for both financial gain and to support her habit.
The court was told police conducted three search warrants on her Inglewood property, with 5.175g of methylamphetamine seized in a September 2019 raid and 26.175g seized in a search in November, as well as other drug paraphernalia like scales and bags.
Justice Peter Callaghan sentenced Wilson to nine years in jail, with at least two behind bars.
Luke Thomas Goldsworthy
Eligible for parole: November 29, 2023
In a targeted and premeditated home invasion, a Withcott man robbed a former friend at his Helidon address to steal firearms so they could be sold on the black market.
Luke Thomas Goldsworthy, with a co-offender, dressed in disguise on November 23, 2021 and broke into the home of his friend who was assaulted with a baseball bat.
The two assailants broke into two gun safes and stole 10 firearms before fleeing the property.
Goldsworthy pleaded guilty at the Toowoomba District Court in June 2022 to enter dwelling with intent by break while armed in company and armed robbery in company with personal violence.
With already 203 days of pre-sentence custody served, Judge Michael Byrne sentenced Goldsworthy to six years jail, with the in custody days declared as time already served.
Brock Leslie Marshall
Eligible for parole: June 30, 2023
A Dalby man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s mother’s house in a chilling crime that later involved him choking, beating and attempting to abduct her, could be released into the public next year.
Brock Leslie Marshall’s ex-girlfriend, the mother of his children, woke up to him strangling her and shoving his fingers down her throat, preventing her from breathing on August 31, 2021 in Dalby, the city’s District Court was told.
The woman’s cries for help were heard by her mother when Marshall loosened his grip, and the court was told she came to the room and was confronted by the 24-year-old man who held a knife at the victim’s throat and made threats.
After multiple confrontations and attempts to call for police, Marshall attempted to abduct his ex-partner, injuring her further.
The court heard neighbours reported the horrifying scenes to police and when they questioned Marshall further he made “statements downplaying what happened”.
Marshall, who had already spent 447 days in prison, pleaded guilty to deprivation of liberty, two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, strangulation, choking, burglary at night while armed, common assault, stealing and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren sentenced Marshall to five and a half years in jail.
Ross Andrew Burke
Eligible for parole: April 6, 2023
A 52-year-old man who bashed his ex-wife’s partner and left him unconscious on the floor was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
Toowoomba District Court was told in July 2022 that Ross Andrew Burke was drunk when his ex-wife called him to say her new partner had punched her in the face, leaving her with two black eyes.
Burke had a friend drive him from Dalby to Oakey where he entered his ex-wife’s home and attacked the victim on the evening of August 7, 2021.
Burke punched and kicked the man to the head a number of times and when he fell unconscious to the floor, he dragged him out onto a veranda and left him there while he and his ex-wife talked, the court heard.
The man suffered significant injuries and required surgery for brain swelling and was placed in an induced coma, the court was told.
Corianda Marigold Gardiner
Eligible for parole: February 25, 2023
The 37-year-old mother was sentenced at least nine months away from her family after she pleaded guilty to trafficking meth, supplying cannabis and possessing meth and cannabis and drug utensils.
Corianda Marigold Gardiner had been the target of a police operation investigating drug trafficking in the Stanthorpe area in late 2020 to early 2021, the Toowoomba Supreme Court heard.
A police search of Gardiner’s home on December 23, 2021, had found a small amount of meth but more seriously police found a series of messages on her mobile phone, which was seized, that pointed to her drug trafficking.
Over a five-month period, Gardiner had trafficked ice to 16 people, where her operation was to source up to 3.5g of meth at a time before breaking that down into small amounts and selling at street level in amounts from 0.1g to 0.5g.
Justice Martin Burns sentenced the mother to three years behind bars.
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