Man poured petrol on car

Defendant handed jail term over domestic violence

A 35-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba man who poured petrol over the bonnet of his partner’s car next to which she was standing during a domestic argument has been handed a jail term.

The father of two, who cannot be named due to domestic violence orders, had become angry with his partner who had stayed out all night when she was supposed to be home by 12.30am, Toowoomba District Court heard.

About 9am, March 12, he had been out with the couple’s two children when he got a call from his partner to bring the children home as she was taking them somewhere, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.

However, when he arrived home to find his partner standing in the driveway beside her car, he became angry and an argument erupted during which time he had gone to the garage and retrieved a jerry can of mower petrol which he poured over the bonnet of her car, she said.

The man hadn’t realised at the time that the two children had alighted from his car and were sitting in the back seat of their mother’s car when he poured the fuel over the bonnet, the court heard.

Ms Petrie said it was accepted the man didn’t have a lighter on him at the time and he had washed the petrol off the car soon after.

Police called by the woman arrived and took the man into custody.

He had spent the ensuing 237 days in custody before appearing in court to plead guilty to one charge of threatening violence in a domestic setting.

His barrister Frank Martin told the court the children had been taken away from the woman by her mother due to her daughter’s drinking and drug taking, and the children were now living with their grandmother who was in court supporting his client as was his client’s mother.

His client’s ex-partner hadn’t seen the children since August but the children wanted to re-engage with their father and that would be facilitated upon his release, he said.

His client was working at the time of his arrest and he would return to that employment upon his release and he would live with his mother, Mr Martin said.

Judge Michael Williamson KC sentenced the man to the 237 days in jail that he had already served, effectively releasing him from custody.