MAN JAILED FOR FOUR YEARS AFTER ASSAULTING AND RAPING EX-PARTNER

A MAN has been sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting and raping his ex-partner while their four children were in the house.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, faced Hobart’s Supreme Court on Thursday after being found guilty of assault and rape.

The court heard that on April 24, 2018, the man grabbed the woman’s head, pulled her forward, and forcibly kissed her.

According to the woman, later that day the man came into their bedroom and called her and her teenage daughter whores. The woman asked her daughter to go to bed and to call the police if she heard anything. The man went on to rape the woman and repeatedly told her that he loved her and they should be together again.

During that night the teenage daughter heard her mother yelling “get off me” and called triple-0, leading to the man’s arrest shortly afterwards.

Officers noted he was affected by alcohol and was wearing his shorts inside out.

The next day bruising was found behind the woman’s right ear and left wrist, however Acting Justice David Porter said he cannot be certain that it was caused during the rape.

In her victim impact statement she said she was shocked, frightened and invaded, and that she went into a “very dark place mentally” afterwards.

She has been undergoing counselling for 18 months and reports panicking when seeing something that triggers memory of the events of that night.

Acting Justice Porter said the woman had prior PTSD from a previous relationship, but that this rape could be said to have exacerbated and prolonged the symptoms.

“On the night, he generally behaved in an abusive and jealous manner, and subjected the complainant to his will in the form of a violent bodily invasion,” Acting Justice Porter said.

“As to the assault, it was not a high level of violence and did not cause any lasting physical injury but no doubt had an emotional impact, and it has to be put in the context of the defendant’s general behaviour.”

Acting Justice Porter gave the man a fouryear sentence, taking into account the man’s personal circumstances such as his new stable relationship and good employment record.

Additionally he noted the man’s poor health, his “significant distress” during the court proceedings, and the emotional burden from his partner’s recent miscarriage.

The man will be ineligible for parole for two years, will be added on the Community Protection register, and must report in for two years after his release from prison.