Andrew Hayden Chessell sentenced in court after kicking cop in head on Flinders Street

A drunken night out in Townsville ended in chaos when a former soldier fled from police, requiring multiple officers to restrain him. Here’s what happened.

Andrew Hayden Chessell was sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for assaulting a police officer during a drunken Flinders Street wrestle. Photo: Instagram

It took multiple police officers to take down a former soldier and Townsville business owner when his “drunken idiocy” led him to kick one of them in the head.

Andrew Hayden Chessell, 26, was sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court on Friday after accidentally assaulting a police officer during an attempt to flee a random knife wanding.

Police prosecutor Tasman Murphy told the court that just past midnight on February 16 the incident began when Chessell’s “drunken idiocy” turned what should have been a routine search into a physical confrontation.

Officers were patrolling Townsville’s Safe Night Precinct on Flinders Street as part of Jack’s Law — a state legislation enabling random wanding for weapons — when they approached a drunk Chessell.

However Mr Murphy said Chessell seemed to misunderstand and fled across the road.

“Police end up putting him under arrest and he puts up a great show of resistance which ends up in a wrestle and the police officers becoming embroiled in this wrestle and sustaining blows to themselves,” he said.

During the altercation, one officer fell to the ground and was inadvertently kicked in the head by Chessell.

Chessell was arrested and spent six to seven hours in the Townsville Watch House sobering up before he was released.

Chessell’s defence lawyer said Chessell had spent four years in the Australian Army and was discharged after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of a deployment to Iraq.

After self medicating with alcohol he went through a long period of abstinence from drinking prior to the night of his offending.

“He was just standing on Flinders Street socialising and was chosen at random to be wanded as part of the relatively new laws,” he said.

Andrew Hayden Chessell was sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for assaulting a police officer during a drunken Flinders Street wrestle. He served in the Australian Army for four years and completed a deployment to Iraq.

“The misunderstanding seems to me to have arisen as a result of the terminology used with my client in his inebriated state that he had been identified as someone who needed to be wanded.

“He had no reason otherwise to resist but took it in a way where he was being accused of being in possession of a knife.”

The lawyer said the assault was a “low impact brushing of his foot with the officer’s head” during the wrestle.

The court heard the man is the owner of his own business ‘Everything Diesel Solutions’ and works full-time in the mining industry.

Magistrate Steven Mosch said “there are those who might say that nothing positive happens in a nightclub precinct” around 1am.

“It’s regrettable because the whole situation could have been quite easily avoided,” he said.

Magistrate Mosch also acknowledged Chessell hadn’t had a drink since that night.

Chessell pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and obstructing police.

He was fined $850.

Originally published as Andrew Hayden Chessell sentenced in court after kicking cop in head on Flinders Street