Man jailed for random headbutting

A MAN walked up to a council worker sweeping the streets in the early morning, asked him for a smoke and then headbutted him.

Phillip Michael Kyle, 25, pleaded guilty to six charges including common assault when he faced Townsville Magistrates Court via video-link.

The court heard on November 22, 2018, in Charters Towers a council worker was sweeping the street when he was randomly attacked.

He heard Kyle approach him and asked if he had “any smokes” and a lighter.

The victim told him he didn’t to which Kyle started repeatedly asking him if he was “ignorant or arrogant” leaving the cleaner to tell him, he didn’t want to fight, he just wanted to do his job.

“Your ignorance and arrogance is going to get you hurt,” Kyle told the victim.

Kyle then walked up to the cleaner and headbutted him on the right-hand side of his face, leaving the worker stunned but otherwise unharmed. When arrested by police, Kyle told them he had been sleeping at the time of the assault.

On May 2, Kyle had been transported to the Townsville Hospital for a large gash on the back of his head.

While on the way to the hospital, he kept trying to touch equipment in the ambulance and paramedics despite being told not to.

At the hospital, he reached around the back of his head to touch the wound before wiping his bloody hand on the hand of a police officer.

Police prosecutor Len Brown told the court because the officer was wearing a latex glove, no blood came into contact with their skin, which did not expose the officer to a risk of infection.

Defence lawyer Mikayla Ward said Kyle had struggled with an addiction to alcohol since he was 15.

“He has some insight, and realises he had a lot of opportunities and choices, but had taken a path where he has made the wrong choices … his actions are hurting the people that he loves,” she said.

Magistrate Cathy Wadley described Kyle’s serious assault on a police officer as “disgusting”.

“You recognise that you’ve made the wrong choices and you’ve got to deal with it … otherwise you’ll find yourself spending life in custody,” Ms Wadley said.

Kyle was sentenced to 12 months’ jail. A parole release date was set for October 26.