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Subscriber only A DAD who indecently assaulted his wife s younger brother in a wardrobe during a game of hide and seek was not reported to authorities until sexually assaulting the youth several years later. The offender was charged when the second assault was reported to police. He will not spend any time in jail after a judge found exceptional circumstances did exist, when he faced Ipswich District Court for sentence. This included his efforts at rehabilitation and professional counselling. The 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to indecently treating a child under 12 when under care in 2012 or 2013; and sexual assault of a youth aged 16 or 17 in either 2016 or 2017 (domestic violence offence).
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Subscriber only A PREDATOR who spotted a woman he had seen previously at a hotel sexually assaulted her in the yard of her own home. A court this week heard Rory O Brien was already on bail for three counts of rape relating to another woman at the time. Both the victims were strangers to him. Appearing from jail before Ipswich District Court on Thursday, Rory Henry O Brien, 28, was convicted and sentenced for one count of sexually assaulting a 63-year-old woman on May 9, 2019. The offence occurred in the Lockyer Valley. Crown prosecutor Amanda Robinson said O Brien was convicted of the three rapes and a related burglary offence and received an eight-year jail term. The sentence was imposed by Judge Dennis Lynch QC in the Ipswich District Court last September.
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UPDATE: A JURY has returned a verdict of not guilty in the case of Gilbert James Neho, who stood trial on a Crown prosecution charge of grievous bodily harm.
The charge arose from a birthday party at Collingwood Park in April 2016.
Less than an hour after retiring to consider the case heard before Ipswich District Court, the jury returned to deliver the not guilty verdict on Thursday before Judge Dennis Lynch QC.
Mr Neho was formerly absolved and left the courtroom.
EARLIER: A MAN is defending charges of grievous bodily harm that arose from a birthday party that turned violent in Ipswich in 2016.
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A THUG convicted of a nasty violent home invasion did the jail time but soon after his parole release fell back to crime by using a gun to hijack a man’s car.
The carjacker, Cain Sturdy, pointed a gun at the man’s face when he saw him seated in a car parked on the driveway of a Ripley house.
Sturdy drove off with his girlfriend in the man’s Holden Commodore.
This week Ipswich District Court sentenced Sturdy for six offences – armed robbery in company at Ripley on November 14, 2019; two charges of unlawful use of a stolen car; committing burglary; stealing fuel; and receiving tainted property – a firearm.
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FORMER Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli said âjustice has ultimately been servedâ after his convictions for fraud were set aside last week.
Ipswich District Court Judge Dennis Lynch QC handed down his decision on Friday after upholding the appeal by Mr Antoniolli; acquitting him of all 13 fraud offences.
He had been found guilty by Magistrate Anthony Gett in June last year. Former Ipswich mayor Andrew Antoniolli was aquitted of all 13 fraud offences on Friday.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Antoniolli said the acquittal marked the end of a âtumultuousâ two-and-a-half years for his family.