Father bashed “peeping tom”
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COURTS: The following cases appeared before Magistrate Caroline Huntsman at Yass Local Court on May 5, 2015.
A Yass man has been placed on a good behaviour bond after he bashed an acquaintance who told him he had seen the man’s teenage daughter naked, Yass Local Court has heard.
The 50-year-old was convicted of a number of charges relating to separate incidents during the past two years.
Police alleged the accused had been drinking at home with the victim and others on August 6, 2013, when the victim admitted seeing the man’s 15-year-old daughter showering in her home.
The man and a co-accused had assaulted the victim in the back yard.
Police alleged they had then forced the victim into a car and driven him to a remote location for another beating, although the accused denied this during a subsequent police interview.
The police told the court the victim had been left at the remote location and had phoned triple-0 before the accused returned to pick him up and drive him home.
The victim was admitted to Yass Hospital with lacerations, abrasions and swelling to the head. He was transported to Canberra Hospital for specialist surgery to his face.
The man was charged with taking or detaining a person in company, with the intention of gaining an advantage, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
During a police interview the man had admitted part of the attack but denied taking the victim to a remote location.
He was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.
In a separate incident, the man pleaded guilty of mid-range drink driving on Grand Junction Road, after police stopped his vehicle at 1.10am on March 7 this year.
He recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.094.
He was fined $200 and disqualified for six months.
He was also convicted of an earlier offence of driving a vehicle under the influence of an illicit drug, namely methylamphetamine, after he was pulled over on Laidlaw Street at 2.13pm on August 7 last year.
He was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and disqualified form driving for six months.
The man’s name has been withheld from publication to protect the identity of his daughter.
Arrests during hostile street brawl
A violent street brawl saw Yass Police stretched to the limit as they dealt with a hostile crowd of about 100 drunken revellers in Comur Street, the court heard.
Several arrests were made during the incident, including Raquel Marie Morley, 44, of Yass, who pleaded guilty of behaving in an offensive manner and assaulting a police officer.
The court heard about 40 people were yelling obscenities amongst a crowd of about 100 revellers who were celebrating after an annual touch football competition in Comur Street, Yass, on January 25.
Police were called at 1.28am to attend a fight which had erupted and heard allegations Morley had been driving erratically near the crowd and accelerated and “braked harshly” immediately before hitting the crowd of revellers.
Police were arresting a man in the crowd when they tried to stop Morley attack someone nearby. She punched the officer in the head as he arrested her.
Another person ran at police demanding she be set free, punching a police officer in the face while Morley continued to kick and scream.
“Further fighting was starting to break out in the vicinity,” police told the court.
“There were only five police officers on the scene trying to break up the fighting and disperse the people involved.”
After they calmed Morley down, she agreed to leave the scene under the understanding she would be contacted by police later.
However, she passed out and began to have a seizure.
Paramedics were called.
Police dealt with the large hostile crowd for over an hour, making several arrests.
Morley later told police she had “seen red” after witnessing a crowd member assaulting a family member. She appeared remorseful and apologised to police.
She was convicted and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond for the assault but Magistrate Huntsman found the offensive behaviour matter proved without proceeding to a conviction. She had previously been fined for her traffic offences.
Fine for growth hormone
Shadi Darwiche, 23, of Kingston QLD, was fined $600 for possessing a restricted muscle-growth hormone on January 22.
Police told the court they stopped Darwiche’s car on Yass Valley Way at 7.45pm for a random breath test.
A subsequent search of her vehicle revealed a small white foam box with a vial of the drug, but Darwiche could not produce a doctor’s prescription.
He had told police at the time it was a peptide to increase muscle mass.
Checks revealed he was not a patient of the doctor whose name appeared on the vial label.
Low range drink driving
Lucy Nicole Gunning, 23, of Macgregor ACT, was convicted of low-range drink driving on Yass Valley Way at Yass.
Police stopped her vehicle on March 29 at 10am.
She recorded a blood alcohol content of 0.077.
She was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for three months.
Ice, cannabis offences
Teresa Lee Jones, 36, of Ashmont NSW, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing equipment for administering a prohibited drug, two counts of possessing a prohibited drug, and two counts of self administering that drug.
Police told the court they pulled Jones over for a random breath test as she was driving on the Hume Highway at Bookham, at 3.11pm on March 23.
A search of her vehicle uncovered drugs, a 12-guage shotgun and ammunition.
They found Cannabis, Ice, a bong used to administer cannabis, and an ice pipe used to administer Ice (methamphetamines).
She was placed on a six-month good behaviour bond, fined $100 and the ice matters were found proven without recording a conviction.
Intimidation fine
Rebecca Katherine Lear, 39, of Norlane Victoria, was convicted of stalking and intimidating a relative, in relation to incidents occurring between January 14-28 at Yass.
Police told the court she had used a mobile phone to cause fear of harm.
She was fined $1000.
Drug driving
Hayden John McDonald, 21, of Yass, pleaded guilty of driving with an illicit drug in his blood stream.
Police told the court McDonald was stopped on the Barton Highway at Jeir at 7.15am on November 19 last year.
The provisional-two licence holder tested positive to cannabis during a random breath test.
He was given conditional discharge and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.
Weapon for “own protection”
A man carrying a wooden club with screws protruding from it told police it was for his own protection, Yass Local Court has heard.
Brendan McGuire, 27, of Kings Park NSW, was charged with carrying an offensive implement in a public place at Bowning, on April 14.
He was fined $500.
Cultivating cannabis
Billyjoe Medway, 23, of Gunning, has been fined $400 for cultivating cannabis.
Police seized two plants from his home at 2.20pm on January 28.
One was 50cm in a pot, the other had grown to 100cm.
He told police it was for his personal cannabis use.
Weapons offences
Hayden Thomas Dudley Waters, 21, of Gunning, pleaded guilty to a number of weapons offences after police came to his home at 2pm on February 5.
He was charged with failing to keep a firearm properly, possessing an unauthorised Bently pump action 12-guage shotgun, possessing an unauthorised Bris-Kill .22 calibre bolt-action rifle and possessing an unauthorised BSA 310 cadet single shot rifle.
He was convicted, sentenced to eight months jail, suspended upon entering a 12-month good behaviour bond.
The following cases were heard before Magistrate Caroline Huntsman in Yass Local Court on May 19.
Christmas punch costs accused $1000
Mungo Bright, 22, of Yass, pleaded not guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm in relation to an incident on Christmas Day last year.
Police told the court the victim Fergus Padraig McGrath had told police of an assault in a local pub at 12.25am on Christmas Day which left him missing a front tooth.
The incident was captured on CCTV security footage.
Bright had told police he was being provoked and annoyed by Mr McGrath at the time, who had refused to stop tapping him on the shoulder.
He had warned the victim to stop touching him and then punched him in the face when the victim failed to comply.
Bright was convicted and fined $1000.
