Man strips shirt to fight

Drunken episode lands tree-lopper in court for public nuisance, assault

A MAN was pushed to breaking point before finally snapping, ripping off his shirt and attempting to push past two police officers to fight a second man in the middle of an Ingham street, a court was told.

Fulltime tree-lopper Jordan Paul Smallwood, 28, appeared in the Ingham Magistrates Court on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to counts of committing a public nuisance and obstructing and assaulting police in Lannercost Street in the early hours of Tuesday, September 27.

Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Felicity Nalder said police patrolling the Ingham central business district were confronted by the sight of two intoxicated men squaring up to each other in the street outside an Ingham pub just before 1.30am.

“Police saw the defendant take off his shirt and throw it to the ground and raise both of his arms with closed fists in front of his body in a fighting stance while simultaneously walking toward the other male,” she said.

Sergeant Nalder said despite the intervention of police, Smallwood “continued to behave in a violent manner verbally threatening the other male while in the middle of the road”.

“Police then instructed the defendant several times to stay back and to get off the road and leave the other male alone,” she said.

“The defendant was uncooperative and stated ‘f--- off, don’t touch me’ and has pushed past police three times by pushing their arms away and continuing to walk to the other male.”

Sergeant Nalder said Smallwood’s behaviour escalated when he pushed a police officer backward, assaulting him, forcing police to use pepper spray to subdue him.

It was not alleged that the officer was injured.

Defence lawyer Margaret Crowther said her client, who had no previous convictions for violence, was ashamed of his poor behaviour and deeply remorseful.

She said Smallwood (pictured) had been drinking at one Ingham pub and was walking to the Lees Hotel where he had booked a room.

Ms Crowther said the defendant was followed by the second man who was seeking to provoke a fight.

“Eventually he did turn around and got into that circumstance, which the police observed,” she said.

She said her client was deeply apologetic “in the cold, hard light of day”.

The offending, which she categorised as out of character, was at the lower end of the scale for the particular charges, she said.

Acting

Magistrate

Scott

Luxton said Ingham Police did everything they could to try and diffuse the situation to no avail.

“At that point in time you were teetering on getting yourself into a serious situation where had that type of behaviour continued, escalated in terms of striking a police officer, then we would be in a different circumstance to what we are today,” Mr Luxton said.

“That type of behaviour toward police will not be tolerated, it is perhaps due to the competence of the police officers that it didn’t go any further.”

Smallwood was convicted on all three charges and fined $750.