Olympic boxer Ward fined after 'disgusting' behaviour
OLYMPIC boxer Billy Joe Ward bent a fence bar and threw a police officer's torch during a booze-fuelled argument with the cops last year.
The athlete, 19, faced Gladstone Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with one count of assaulting or obstructing a police officer and one charge of public nuisance.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Mick O'Rourke told the court that on November 4 last year, police found two men crawling through a metal fence on Hanson Rd.
When police confronted Ward and the other man, the court heard the boxer began to verbally abuse officers.
At one point he raised his arms in the air and yelled obscenities.
Ward also grabbed onto another fence bar in front of the officers and caused it to bend.
When police attempted to arrest Ward he did not comply, and continued to verbally abuse them and physically resist arrest.
At one point in the altercation, the court was told Ward grabbed a police officer's torch and threw it away.
Sgt O'Rourke asked Magistrate Russell Warfield to consider the serious nature of the incident.
The police prosecutor said it was an example of people being too lazy to walk around a fence.
Defence lawyer Jun Pepito said his client was remorseful and had avoided drinking since the incident.
Magistrate Warfield said the defendant's behaviour when spoken to by police was "disgusting".
Ward, who pleaded guilty to the two charges, was fined $1200.
A conviction was not recorded.
