Woman tells of stand-over bash attack

A SOUTHERN Tasmanian woman has told a court she was interrogated and bashed for several hours at a Chigwell house in 2015.

Matthew John Davey, his cousin Dillon Anthony Davey, and Scott Raymond Dale have each pleaded not guilty to one count of committing an unlawful act intended to cause bodily harm and one count of assault.

Kristie Graham told a Supreme Court jury in Hobart yesterday she was at Matthew Davey’s Allunga Rd house on May 7, 2015.

The court heard she and Matthew Davey’s partner, who also lived at the house, had been grocery shopping, and later in the day Ms Graham found some CDs and a pocket knife that belonged to her in the bedroom Matthew Davey and his partner shared.

Ms Graham said Matthew Davey, with Dillon Davey and Mr Dale, arrived at the house just before 10pm that night and asked what was going on.

She said Matthew Davey’s partner accused her of selling the partner’s child for $15,000.

“I had no idea what she was going on about, neither did anybody else,” Ms Graham said.

She said she was also accused of setting up a camera to photograph the house.

“They were just yelling questions. I couldn’t understand any of them,” Ms Graham said.

“They dragged me from the loungeroom to a chair that was sitting in the kitchen.”

The court heard the group accused Ms Graham of attempting to frame Matthew Davey of a crime by putting his DNA on a padlock that was linked to the crime.

Ms Graham told the court she had not done so.

She said they also accused her of being a police informant.

“I had no idea what they were talking about,” she said.

Ms Graham said Matthew Davey’s partner would hit her if she did not give the group the answers they wanted.

She said she was punched 20-30 times and was also hit with a baseball bat but could not remember how many times.

“Scott threatened to burn my eyes out with a blow torch that was there ... He also said that I’d be taken up the bush ... that I’d be killed.”

Ms Graham said her face was severely swollen, her eyes were closed over and her body was sore.

She got away from the house after Matthew Davey and his partner had fallen asleep on the couch, she said.

She said she went to her friends before going to the Royal Hobart Hospital, where she said she stayed for about four days.

In a video statement recorded while she was lying in a hospital bed on May 9, 2015, Ms Graham said she was taken to a chair and strapped down from 10.30pm until 5am the following day.

The trial, before Chief Justice Alan Blow, continues.