Birthday trip ends in jail

A TRIP to Toowoomba to celebrate his brother’s birthday ultimately left a Biloela man in jail and facing charges from incidents dating back to 2016.

Jason Michael Pope told Toowoomba Magistrates Court he had travelled to Toowoomba for his brother’s 40th birthday and ended up being arrested on warrants.

On June 7, he was jailed for nine months, with a parole rethe lease date of August 4, after pleading guilty before the same court to two counts of failing to appear in court and possessing dangerous drugs, the court heard.

While in custody, police charged him on outstanding warrants for burglary and sexual assault arising from incidents at Eidsvold where he grew up and was living in 2016.

Police prosecutor Bettina Trenear told the court on that occasion Pope had sneaked into the home of a woman he had known since school about 5am, September 16, 2016.

The pair had exchanged words the evening before at the Eidsvold Hotel and she had gone home to bed later that night, she said.

However, about 5am she woke to feel fingers rubbing up and down her leg and initially thought she was dreaming until she felt a hand on her hip trying to pull her underwear down, Ms Trenear said.

The woman looked over the side of the bed to find Pope crouched down and she yelled at him and he ran off, she said.

Pope failed to appear in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on those charges in October 2019 and a warrant was issued for his arrest, she said.

Pope, 47, appeared by video link from Woodford Correctional Centre on Friday to plead guilty to burglary and sexual assault arising from the Eidsvold incident in 2016.

Representing himself, he said he normally lived in Biloela where he had three children, who lived with their mother, and he cut timber to support them.

He said at the time he had lost a number of family members and was drinking heavily and had no memory of the offences but pleaded guilty.

He said he and the woman had slept together before but were just friends.

Magistrate Clare Kelly said offending was serious but “totality” had to be taken into account as Pope had since appeared in court on a number of occasions and had been sentenced for various offences.

Noting Pope had seven pages of criminal history but nothing for sexual assault, Ms Kelly sentenced him to 18 months in jail but ordered he be released on parole on August 4, the same parole date set for his other sentences.