Noah Felix Widgell spent seven months in crowded jail where he slept on floor beside cell toilet

A 19-year-old spent seven months in an overcrowded prison and was forced to sleep on the floor beside the toilet, a court has been told. See his plans upon release.

As if spending seven months in jail wasn’t daunting enough for a teenager with no criminal history, one Toowoomba 19-year-old was left sleeping on the cell floor with his head beside the toilet.

Noah Felix Widgell appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court via video link from the prison to hear, to his relief, that his time in custody was over.

The teenager had spent a total 234 days, or about seven and a half months, in jail after being arrested for a string of offences in late July 2022, the court was told.

However, his solicitor Alysha Jacobsen, of Bouchier Khan Lawyers, explained that during that time some significant case conferencing with police had ensued to the point where the more serious charges her client was facing had been dropped.

The teen was forced to sleep on the floor beside the cell’s toilet.

Widgell then pleaded guilty to the remaining matters which included arguing with and the assault occasioning bodily harm of a woman known to him who he struck to the side of the head during an argument at a Toowoomba motel on April 13, 2022; breaching a court order in Oakey on May 3, 2022; receiving car keys (tainted property) in July, 2022; and unlawfully using a motor vehicle on James St, Toowoomba, and driving off from a Harristown service station without paying $89.33 for fuel on July 29, 2022, after which he was taken into custody.

Ms Jacobsen said while Widgell was in jail he missed his son’s first birthday and had been subjected to prison lockdowns.

Due to prison overcrowding her client had to sleep on the cell floor with his head near the cell’s toilet which was not a pleasant experience, she said.

Upon his release from jail the teenager would return to live with and care for his mother and do some programs to better himself, Ms Jacobsen said.

Acting magistrate Kay Ryan placed Widgell on 12 months probation and ordered the convictions not be recorded.