Abuse lands man in court

Man choked out partner during argument

A DISPUTE about finances escalated to the point of physical violence when a man kicked his partner between the legs and attacked her with a screwdriver over $300.

The man appeared in Toowoomba District Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to a number of offences, including suffocation, assault occasioning bodily harm and multiple contraventions of a domestic violence order.

The court was told the then 47-year-old Charleville man was at home with his partner on the morning of March 11, 2021, when the pair began arguing over money.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Wilkins told the court the man demanded to access the victim’s bank account, and she refused.

In response the man kicked the woman in the vagina with such force that she collapsed to the ground, where he then punched her multiple times, before leaving for work.

During the day the victim withdrew $300 and put it through the poker machines of Charleville RSL.

Mr Wilkins said when the man returned from work that afternoon about 4pm the pair argued again, and when he found out she had spent $300 he attacked her with a screwdriver, striking her multiple times.

The court was told the man then put his hands around the victim’s head, blocking her nose and mouth, causing her to black out.

The following day he accosted his partner and her sister while at the bank before following the pair to the victim’s parents house, shouting “stop testing me or I’ll bash you”.

The man’s barrister Jens Streit accepted that his conduct was “egregious”, but that the relationship was “destructive” and marred by methylamphetamine use by both parties.

The youngest of 17, the court was told the man suffered abuse while at BoysTown during the 1980s, and had been a promising footballer until drugs and alcohol took over his life. Judge Michael Byrne QC noted that while the man had been remanded in custody since March 12, 2021, he declined to recognise the time as counting towards the sentence, as he was on parole at the time.

The man was jailed for three years, wholly suspended for four years, with immediate parole.