Paul Anthony Limkin sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for ‘bashing strangers’ in public

A man who started his spree of violence by threatening to kill strangers in public has escalated to punching and kicking a random man in his late 60s near The Strand.

Paul Anthony Limkin was fined more than $8900 for multiple animal abuse and wilful damage charges.

A man who his lawyer claimed, started a drug habit later in has fronted court after beating up random people and threatening to kill others in public spaces around North Queensland.

Paul Anthony Limkin appeared via video link in Townsville Magistrates Court on Tuesday where it was revealed his offending escalated from threats to actual assaults of people unknown to him.

Police prosecutor Nathan Smith said the worst of the 45-year-old’s offending occurred May 1 last year when he left Hotel Allen and approached a 68-year-old man, knocked him to the ground and proceeded to kick him in the head and attempted to drag him.

Mr Smith said the victim was able to get away and contact police.

The month prior, Limkin punched a man who was exiting a bus on Ogden Street and was once again unknown to him, the court was told.

Only two days prior he was reported to police after approaching a group of people at Riverway skatepark, demanding their names and threatening to bash them, Mr Smith said.

The court was also told that in that same incident he approached a husband and wife who were with their children and tried to fight the man and at a caravan park in February he punched a hole in the wall of one of the dongers and threatened to kill members of the public.

“He’s firstly abusive but it’s escalating behaviour in that, for the public nuisances he threatened to bash people, then he just starts randomly bashing strangers,” the prosecutor said.

“When determining matters of violence we need to take into account the threat to the community.”

He told the court Limkin had been on parole for some of the offences, as he had been sentenced previously for robbery.

Defence lawyer Phil Rennick said his client who has a five and a half page criminal history had shown some mental health concerns, and had started using drugs a lot later in life.

“If you look at his history it really ramps up in 2018, a lot of its associated with drugs and mental health issues,” he said.

While magistrate Susan Warrington sentenced the man, he kept interrupting.

“Don’t make excuses for your behaviour,” she said to him.

“It’s a continued pattern of behaviour. It’s aggressive behaviour.”

Limkin pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, common assault, trespass and contravening a community service order.

He was sentenced to 12 months jail and given an immediate parole eligibility date as Her Honour declared the 265 days the man spent in pre-sentence custody as time already served.

Originally published as Paul Anthony Limkin sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for ‘bashing strangers’ in public