DRAG STAR JAMES AT HOME ON TEAM BOY GEORGE
Judge slams vigilante group who left boatie partially blind
A GROUP of mates who “travelled in a pack” have been sentenced in a Gold Coast court after leaving a Mermaid Waters boatie partially blind in one eye following a vigilante attack.
Madeline Wurth, Michael Goomes, Taylor Skeet, Jake Glover and Beau Carrington pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to the November 2013 assault of Timothy McCloud outside his home at Sailfish Cove.
Carrington pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, while the others pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.
The court heard McCloud picked up 16-year-old Wurth while driving to a club in Broadbeach about 1am on November 2.
He took her back to his apartment where he touched her sexually before she left, the court was told.
The court heard Wurth returned with the four other accused and punched and kicked McCloud before Carrington threw a glass bottle at him.
A piece of glass became lodged in Mr McCloud’s right eye.
In sentencing, Judge Katherine McGinness said the assault was “extremely serious” and the group had acted in a “cowardly and brutish” way.
“You were travelling in a pack and your motives were retribution for a perceived attack of Ms Wurth,” she said.
“Vigilantism and retribution suzanne.simonot@news.com.au GOLD Coast “diva in the making” James Banks has caught Boy George’s attention on The Voice Australia.
The New Zealand-born hairdresser and drag performer landed a spot on his dream team on last night’s Blind Auditions episode of the Channel 9 reality TV sing-off.
Boy George turned his big red chair – the only coach to do so – during Banks’ rendition Lana Del Ray’s track Summertime Sadness.
”It’s a song that I’d never sung before but always admired,” Banks said.
“I was definitely hoping to turn any chair but Boy George stood out. We’re so similar in many ways. He was definitely my first choice.”
Banks, who went to Benowa Primary and Helensvale and Pacific Pines State High Schools, trained as a hairdresser at the Q Centre, at Mermaid Waters but now calls Sydney home.
A colourful character who cites his $12,500 black Hermes Birkin Bag (pictured), as his most treasured possession, Banks said he was ostracised by his family when they discovered his alter ego – drag performer Brook-LYN.
“I’ve done a little bit of drag on the Coast and in Brisbane – at Escape in Surfers and a couple of nights at Fluffy (at Family Nightclub in Brisbane),” he said.
Now based in Sydney, Banks, 25, no longer speaks to his UKbased father and Gold Coastbased mother, although “Mum still texts me”.
“My parents have always been financially supportive but never emotionally,” he said.
“My family have strange attitudes – very strange. I’m such an outcast.
“I needed to break free from my family and broaden my horizons.”
Banks wasn’t the only local favourite to make it through last night’s Blind Auditions.
Russ Walker, 31, older brother of former Australian Idol winner Stan Walker, also made it through to the next round after wowing the coaches with his rendition of Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You. Walker will compete on US coach Kelly Rowland’s team. will not be accepted as reasons for committing these types of offences.”
Wurth was sentenced to 12 months’ probation for her role in the assault. Skeet was sentenced to a six month suspended jail sentence, while Gomez was handed a nine month suspended sentence.
Glover was sentenced to a lesser four months’ jail as he is already serving time for unrelated offences. He will be eligible for parole in August.
Carrington, who is also in custody, received three years’ jail for the grievous bodily harm charge and nine months’ imprisonment for the assault.
Both sentences are to be served concurrently and he will be eligible for parole in July 2017.