A fan of notorious criminal turned rapper Spanian has faced court for spitting on a police officer during chaotic scenes at a meet-up attended by the YouTube star.
Spanian, whose real name is Anthony Lees, visited Logan in southeast Queensland on March 9, sparking around 350 of his unruly fans, known as eshays, to run amok in what police called a ‘large-scale hooning event’.
Following the mayhem, which saw police cars kicked and pelted with bottles, Jacob Neil Armstrong, 20, was one of three people charged.
Armstrong, whose distinctive mullet was prominent in videos from the meet-up, faced Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday on charges of spitting on a police officer’s foot during the event.
He was charged with one count of serious assault of a police officer.
Separately, he also faces unrelated charges of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, enter premises and two counts of possession of dangerous drugs.
The Logan Central man also faces charges of receiving tainted property, trespass and possession of drug utensils.
Footage posted on social media captured the wild scenes at the Spanian event, including multiple burnouts as billowing clouds of smoke filled the skies.
Flares were also let off as drivers performed risky stunts.
Hoons were also filmed surrounding and attacking a police car where they launched repeated kicks at the vehicle which was covered in dents.
Three police vehicles were allegedly damaged during the event and one person, a 20-year-old Waterford man, was taken into custody and two people were charged.
A YouTube video of the wild street scenes titled ‘Inside Brisbane’s ROUGHEST Area – LOGAN – Into The Hood’ has been viewed almost one million times.
Defence lawyer Tamara Lawton sought to split the charges to the Brisbane jurisdiction with the rest to remain in Logan.
‘There’s a group of three offences that need to be adjourned to court three for case conferencing in three weeks,’ she said.
‘I’m seeking to essentially split the file. I’ll put the serious assault charge aside and adjourn the Brisbane matters to Brisbane Magistrates Court.’
Magistrate David Shepherd ruled that fresh bail needed to be signed for the Brisbane and Logan charges.
‘There will be a new bail undertaking, granted on the same conditions,’ he said.
The charges of serious assault of a police officer, enter dwelling and two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle have been adjourned to August 7 in Beenleigh Magistrates Court.
Spanian, who grew up in the inner Sydney suburb of Woolloomoolo was incarcerated by age 15 and became addicted to heroin the following year.
He spent 12 years in and out of prisons in New South Wales prisons on various drug charges before turning his life around in 2017.
Since then, he has established himself as a successful rapper and works to show the underbelly of cities around the world through his ‘Into the Hood’ series on YouTube where he’s amassed more than 628,000 subscribers.
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