John Henry Brown pleads guilty to assaulting fellow patient as he dressed after showering

The 40-year-old told the fellow inpatient to “shut up” before throwing flurry of punches to his head and face, court told.

A 40-year-old man who assaulted a fellow patient in a Toowoomba hospital facility has copped a sizeable fine after appearing before the city’s Magistrates Court.

John Henry Brown and the victim were fellow patients of Baillie Henderson Hospital’s Ridley Unit, the court heard.

Police prosecutor Julia Wheaton said there had been a history between the pair in which Brown had regularly insulted the other man who had simply laughed it off.

However, on September 10, 2023, when both men were showering in adjoining cubicles at the unit the victim had been talking to Brown who told him to shut up.

Laughing it off, the victim continued to speak to Brown who threatened he’d assault him if he didn’t stop talking, Sergeant Wheaton said.

Baillie Henderson Hospital. Photo Bev Lacey / The Chronicle

A little later as the victim man was getting dressed and had his shirt over his head, Brown had thrown a flurry of punches at him, striking him in the head and face and leaving him with a swollen and bruised face and a cut to the inside of his cheek, she said.

Brown, who was supported in court by a nurse from the hospital, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

Sgt Wheaton said sentencing Brown was difficult as he was not suitable for community-based orders and possibly couldn’t pay a fine but this was an offence of violence from which the victim had suffered injury.

Defence solicitor Charmaine Malam told the court her client, who suffered paranoid schizophrenia, did have “significant” criminal history but that it was dated and submitted Brown had been out of trouble for a decade or so.

Brown was on a disability support pension with his funds managed by the Public Trustee, she said.

Hospital staff had arranged some sort of mediation between the pair and her client said the other man had forgiven him and they were on friendly terms again, Ms Malam said.

Magistrate Louise Shephard told Brown this was a serious example of assault but, taking into account the limitations of penalty, convicted and fined him $800.