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Man accused of using home invasion for ‘revenge’ refused bail

A man accused of carrying out a “highly aggressive” home invasion and inflicting bodily harm to avenge a family member has been denied bail.

Dec 12, 2023, updated Dec 12, 2023

Nathaniel Raymond Gibson applied for bail in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday after spending more than 100 days in custody

The prosecutor said Gibson was arrested on August 29 about eight days after the alleged incident when he returned to Brisbane from a trip to Melbourne.

“Ultimately the risk that is concerning for the Crown is a risk of re-offending … (Gibson) does have a history that demonstrates mal-compliance with court orders,” the prosecutor said.

Gibson faces 14 charges including two counts of wilful damage, entering with the threat of violence while armed, robbery and attempted robbery in company and threatening violence, four counts of deprivation of liberty and four of assaults occasioning bodily harm.

The prosecutor said Gibson was accused of serious offences via orchestrating a home invasion involving four adult males.

“They have gone into a house containing three teenage girls and their mother. The Crown alleged (Gibson) was armed with a machete and seemed to be motivated by revenge, which is a concern,” the prosecutor said.

Gibson’s family member was seen having an argument with the alleged victims at a shopping centre on the morning of the incident.

The family member contacted Gibson via text message and provided screen caps of the girls’ address.

The prosecutor said police found text messages of Gibson asking for the girls’ names to make sure he was targeting the right house just after 7pm that night.

“The (alleged victims) say one of the offenders was on Facetime or some other application that showed (Gibson’s relative) on the call at the time and then asked the (alleged victims) to apologise,” the prosecutor said.

Gibson’s barrister said his client’s trip to Melbourne had been planned long before the alleged incident and he returned willingly to Queensland and surrendered to police.

The barrister said his proposed bail contained “stringent” measures to address concerns of offending while on bail or failure to appear in court.

“My client has not been the subject of any offences for a period of three years,” the barrister said.

The barrister said Gibson would be restricted to Brisbane’s south side and away from the alleged incident site, be forbidden from contacting others involved in the case and would submit to wearing a GPS tracking device.

Justice Thomas Bradley said he could not take GPS tracking into account when considering bail.

The barrister said there were questions over the strength of the case against Gibson as it relied on testimony claiming he was at the scene.

“It could at best be said the case is somewhat circumstantial,” the barrister said

Justice Bradley said the alleged offending sounded highly aggressive and impulsive.

“Given the gravity of the alleged offending and the very concerning consequences of any repetition of such alleged offending, I’m not persuaded that (Gibson) has shown cause that his continued detention is unjustified,” Justice Bradley said.

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