These 10 people appeared in Toowoomba’s courts on offences of violence

From bashing a housemate to choking and spitting at cops, here are some of Toowoomba’s violent offenders who have passed through the courts.

Here are the people who have passed through the courts in Toowoomba for shocking attacks.

LIKE most regional centres of Toowoomba’s size, violent offences are prevalent and on the rise in some circumstances.

Not a day goes by in the Garden City’s courts that the court list doesn’t include people appearing on charges of violence including assault occasioning bodily harm, common assault, serious assault of police or medical staff and grievous bodily harm.

Here are listed some of the more recent examples of people behaving badly and turning to violence in various situations.

Drunk put officer in choker hold then spat at another cop

A 21-year-old Toowoomba man who held a policeman in a choker hold while being arrested during a drunken tirade on a Newtown street has narrowly avoided actual jail time.

Reece McDermott blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.205 when taken to the watch house after the incident on the night of July 26, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Reece McDermott

Police were called after the then 20-year-old went on a drunken tirade, smashing a wall, two windows and a mailbox with a cricket bat.

Calling police “f***ing dogs”, McDermott told police “you’ll have to lock me up”, leading to a violent struggle on the street, police prosecutor Sergeant Al Windsor said.

Toowoomba man, 32, jailed for strangling 15-year-old girl

A Toowoomba man who pleaded guilty to strangling a 15-year-old girl during an argument has been jailed.

Shane Johnathon Sutton appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday via video link from the Brisbane Men’s Correctional Centre where he had been held since his arrest in May.

The court heard the pair were known to each other.

Drunken attack on cops brings Toowoomba man jail term

A Toowoomba man has been handed a jail term after pleading guilty to a drunken attack on police.

Police called to reports of a disturbance in James St, Harristown, arrived about 6.10am, November 13, to find about 10 people brawling in the street.

Clem Charles Wightman was sentenced to four months in jail, wholly suspended for 12 months, after pleading guilty to a drunken struggle with cops.

Clem Charles Wightman was escorted by police to the rear of the police vehicle where he headbutted the rear window three times, smashing it, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

The 29-year-old then struggled with police and verbally abused officers, calling them “pussy, pussy, pussy”.

Two men jailed for South Toowoomba Hungry Jacks assault

The second of two men to plead guilty to the assault of a drunk man in a Toowoomba Hungry Jacks drive-through has been handed a jail sentence but released on parole.

Callum Williams, 24, of Goondiwindi, had failed to front Toowoomba District Court last week when his co-offender Bradley Thomas Brown, 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm in company arising from the incident in the early hours of June 27, last year.

The victim man, of similar age, had wandered drunk into Hungry Jacks only to find the cafe closed but the drive-through in operation.

Man can’t remember drunken wedding brawl that costs him $5000

A 28-year-old man was so drunk at a Wyreema wedding that he had no memory of punching another guest and then causing $3700 damage to the police car he was placed into.

But Owen Keith Somerton accepted the accounts of the events from his wife and other witnesses, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Owen Keith Somerton

Somerton was normally a placid man and “not a big drinker”, his solicitor Paul Emmerson told the court.

However, his behaviour that night at the Bracknell Lodge wedding had become so concerning, his wife had called a Uber to take them home.

21-year-old woman jailed for role in violent home invasion

A woman who went armed and with backup to collect items left at her ex-partner’s house has earned a jail sentence after the errand descended into a chaotic melee involving knives, a cricket bat and a wooden baton.

The Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Anne-Marie Taylor, 21, and her male co-offenders went to the complainant’s Curzon Street home on September 14.

Police Prosecutor Natalie Bugden said CCTV footage from the home showed one of the men carrying a large serrated bread knife before he tied a bandana across his face.

Taylor is seen to attempt to move the camera so it faced away from the trio.

Toowoomba man bashes housemate during argument over mince

Tensions between two housemates had been simmering for some time, a court was told, and an argument over mince was the final straw when a Toowoomba teenager violently bashed his 40-year-old housemate.

Isaiah David Forden had only two more days on his five-month lease when on July 21 this year an argument boiled over into violence.

In Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday the 18-year-old pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and wilful damage.

21-year-old woman who bashed men told to address anger issues

A 21-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to two separate assaults on men has been placed on probation so she can get help with anger management.

Lili Ann Johnston had become involved in an argument with an Uber driver who had picked her up and an older woman from a Drayton residence about 3.20pm, June 15, last year.

Lily Ann Johnston was placed on probation to help her with anger management.

The Uber driver had agreed to drive them to the South Toowoomba McDonalds and back but when they arrived at the restaurant’s drive through an argument broke out initially with McDonald’s staff and then the Uber driver.

Teen to miss birth of first child and spend time in adult prison

A violent teen home invader burst into tears when told he would not only miss the birth of his first child in January but he would be moved into the adult prison before being released.

The now 18-year-old, who was a juvenile at the time of the offences and so can’t be named, appeared via video link from the juvenile detention centre to plead guilty before the Children’s Court of Queensland at Toowoomba to charges arising from two separate crimes of violence.

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court the then 17-year-old had put on a mask and hoodie and armed himself with a knife when he committed a home invasion of the home of a Middle Eastern refugee in Toowoomba about 2am, April 27.

Man to spend six months in jail for bashing his wife

After spending 189 days in custody a Toowoomba man wept as he learnt he had been granted immediate parole after pleading guilty to assaulting his wife.

Trinity Shane Parter, 47, appeared in Toowoomba District Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to three charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and two charges of common assault.

The court was told that between March and May this year Parter assaulted his wife of 20 years at least four times.

Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher told the court the assaults included episodes of violence where Parter grabbed the victim and threw her down some stairs, as well as grabbing hold of her shirt and pushing his fist towards her face while making derogatory comments.