Suspended prison sentence for drunk pub patron

Nathan James Watt narrowly escaped a jail sentence for abusing police and dropping his pants in a pub.

A Queensland court heard Watt, 29, dropped his pants and called police officers 'c***suckers when he was at Murgon's Australian Hotel at about 9.30pm on July 18.

Police told the court he had one drink and then followed a witness out to the kitchen area.

"He's then began boxing with the witness, punching him in the ribs. The witnesses told him to stop acting like an idiot and leave," police prosecutor Barry Stevens said.

"The defendant kept this up, resulting in the witness pushing him out of the kitchen. He kicked the door and broke the hinge. Another employee heard the disturbance and was able to get the defendant outside the front door and they locked him out."

When police arrived, he started abusing them.

"Police told him they were investigating the disturbance. Being told this he became extremely agitated, swearing loudly saying, 'f*** off c***sucker, f*** off c***',” Sg Stevens said.

"During this tirade he took off his jumper and dropped his sweatpants to expose his genitalia and buttocks to police."

Sgt Stevens told Magistrate Gary Finger that Watts had six pages of criminal history.

"His history is littered with obstructing police and public nuisance offences," Sg Stevens said,

"A term of imprisonment is warranted for his prolific offending. He's been given probation numerous times and he was on probation when he committed these offences."

Watts faced five charges of obstructing a police officer in a licensed premises while drunk, committing public nuisance in the vicinity of a licensed premises, failing to leave a licensed premises, drunk in a licensed premises, and wilful damage.

Defence lawyer Andrew Kelly told Mr Finger that Watt was very remorseful for his actions and that there were no threats or acts of violence.

"He was very intoxicated and he knows the people at the hotel very well," he said.

"The incident where he followed one of the staff members into the kitchen,that staff member is someone he knows very well and he mucks around with quite regularly."

He said there was a good reason why Watts’s parole had not been revoked.

The efforts he's making to deal with these problems. Since I appeared for him in March, he's been attending counselling both here and in Kingaroy. He's also attended at least two, if not three, sessions of counselling for alcohol,” Mr Kelly said.

"He is going to have to deal with the parole board. They seem to be of the view that the continuation of the probation order is something that they believe needs to be maintained because obviously they're focussed on the rehabilitating aspect of that program," Mr Kelly said.

In the end, Mr Finger agreed.

Watt was fined $900 and ordered to complete 40 hours of community service within six months. He was also banned from every licensed premises in Murgon for 12 months and sentenced to three months in prison but the prison sentence was wholly suspended for two years from August 7.

Leon Gettler - 10th August 2018