Home intruder was drugged up

A DRUGGED up man had burst into a Centenary Heights home brandishing a toy gun with which he had then pistol whipped two home occupants.

Due to being drug intoxicated, Tyrone Michael Thomas Whittaker had little recollection of the incident of November 9, last year, his solicitor Brad Skuse told Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

The 28-year-old had entered the Ramsay St home and menaced two men there, waving the toy gun toward them, police prosecutor Sergeant Natalie Bugden told the court.

He had pointed the gun at one of the men and made a noise as if the gun had gone off, she said.

Told to get out, Whittaker had struck that man with the toy gun, leaving him with facial injuries.

When the second man told him to leave, the intruder had done the same to him, leaving him also with facial injuries, Sgt Bugden said.

He had then gone to a neighbouring house and kicked in the locked back door, the court heard.

Entering that home, Whittaker ransacked a number of rooms, stealing an iPhone and watch before leaving.

However, as he walked through the front yard he ripped a letter box off the fence and used it to strike and damage a car parked in the street, Sgt Bugden said.

He had then walked to Kitchener St about 5.30pm and was found by police in another house yard.

He was arrested and taken to the watch house.

Two days earlier Whittaker had become embroiled in an argument with a friend on Hill St, Newtown, who he pushed over and punched a number of times, prompting witnesses to call police but he was gone when they arrived.

Whittaker appeared by video link from the prison to plead guilty to all charges.

Sgt Bugden said Whittaker had a history of violence and at the time of these offences he had been on parole which expired a day or two later.

Mr Skuse said his client had spent 200 days in custody, 127 days of which could be declared as time served.

The facts indicated his client had been heavily affected by drugs at the time of the incidents on November 9 and he had little recollection of what had occurred, he said.

Magistrate Graham Lee noted the offences were at the end of Whittaker’s parole period and sentenced him to 18 months in jail but, declaring the 127 days pre-sentence custody as time served, ordered he be eligible to apply for release on parole immediately.