A Biloela man has been jailed for a targeted “racially motivated attack” against members of Queensland’s Murugappan (Nadesalingam) family, who made national headlines for their years-long fight against deportation while detained on Christmas Island.
Jessie Newton, 40, also pleaded guilty to assaulting Priya Nadesalingam and Nades Murugappan, and a string of other offences, at Rockhampton magistrates court this week.
The incident began when Newton drew swastikas on trees in Lions Park at about 10am on 31 January.
He then crossed the road to approach the food truck operated by the Tamil family, and immediately became aggressive towards them. The court heard he told Nadesalingam that she “didn’t belong here” and that “she needed to go back to her own country”.
Murugappan intervened to protect his wife. Newton then stole a jerry can full of petrol and used it to threaten him, and threatened to insert it into his anus.
Finally he picked up several bird feathers attached to a dried carcass and threw them through the service window of the food truck, striking Nadesalingam in the face. He then fled the scene.
He was arrested two days later.
Police prosecutor Alana Murray said police were able to identify Newton because the Tamil couple filmed the interaction.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailWhen questioned by police he claimed he was conducting “health and safety checks” during his interaction with the couple, Murray said. He told police he drew the swastikas in order to draw attention to trees he claimed council were killing, she said.
Newton has a certificate qualification in workplace health and safety.
Magistrate Peter Kuskie said Newton was a “despicable coward” and a “complete pest”, with a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2002, including a hoax bomb threat, several public nuisance offences, assaults and numerous drug offences.
He said Newton had “sought to target in a racially motivated attack two well-known much loved, and much respected members of the Biloela community, they were going about their business constructively operating their food truck”.
“Your behaviour must have been absolutely horrifying and offensive and demoralising to your victims,” Kuskie said.
Defence lawyer James Fisher said Newton was not a racist or a neo-Nazi and had been affected by substances during his offending.
He said his client was politically engaged, and often brought local issues to the attention of his state MP, arguing that he had used iconography “synonymous with the worst genocide in human history, to try to draw attention to what he says was an environmental issue … the removal of those trees from the park”.
Kuskie said he rejected Newton’s explanation of his behaviour that it was motivated by “eccentric political views” which he had expressed poorly, but accepted his defence’s lawyer’s submission that he had a substance abuse problem.
“You are an absolute disgrace. You are a disgrace to yourself, and you are a disgrace to this country, and the only person who doesn’t belong in Australia – with views like yours – is you,” he said.
Newton pleaded guilty to charges of displaying, distributing, or publishing a prohibited symbol, common assault serious vilification, or hate crime, stealing, obstructing policy, and threatening violence as a result of the incident.
He also admitted 10 other offences committed in two additional incidents, including painting the swastika at a national park store-room which he broke into, vandalising the Gladstone senior citizen centre and Gladstone square, and possessing methamphetamine and cannabis.
Fisher said his client had asked him to apologise to the Tamil family and was ashamed of his behaviour.
The story of Nadesalingam and Murugappan and their children Kopika and Tharnicaa has been told in books, a play and documentaries. The Tamil refugees were detained in early morning raid in 2018 at their Biloela home over a visa that had expired by a single day. They subsequently spent four years in detention including years on Christmas Island where they stayed for two years, before being granted permanent residency in 2022.
Newton was sentenced to 18 months prison, including pre-sentence custody. He will be eligible for parole on 1 August 2026, and convictions will be recorded.
