Man in boat assault could get jail time

A MAN who pushed his former partner overboard off the coast of southern Tasmania and then motored off with her children on board is facing the possibility of jail time.

Erin Jay Tyers, 44, of Franklin, was this month found guilty of assaulting the woman by forcing a cigarette into her mouth and pushing her off his boat near Southport in the early hours of January 3, 2015.

A jury cleared Tyers of five other alleged assaults on the woman at the time but Justice Michael Brett said the act of leaving her in the water while he powered away with her children was “extremely aggravating”.

In weighing up whether to order a mental health report about Tyers, Justice Brett remarked the behaviour was strange.

“I mean who would do that?” he said.

Justice Brett said yesterday he was likely to make findings about the woman’s ordeal that would place the crimes in a more serious category and lead to an actual prison term.

The prosecution had al- leged Tyers forced an unlit cigarette into the woman’s mouth, punched her several times, locked her in the toilet, brandished a knife in her face and threw her off his boat.

He was acquitted of the five charges of punching, poking and wielding a knife in front of the woman’s face as well as depriving her of her liberty by blocking her from leaving the boat’s toilet.

He was also acquitted of stomping on her fingers when she tried to get back on the boat after being pushed off.

But yesterday the court heard it was open to Justice Brett to find Tyers had untied a rope tethered to the boat that had been thrown to the woman by her children and left her there calling for help.

Defence lawyer Andrei Slicer said his client was a homeless disability pensioner with a range of mental health issues including bipolar, anxiety and depression.

Justice Brett ordered a mental health report to explore how these illnesses related to Tyers’ criminal culpability and whether prison time would be felt more acutely by the offender.

He adjourned the case until September 6 and continued Tyers’ bail.