Girlfriend choked twice
COVID-19 outbreak plays role in parole decision
A JEALOUS Gold Coast scaffolder twice choked his partner and told her she would be dead before police arrived, a court was told.
At the time of the choking Corey Brendon Owen was already on probation for assaulting the woman about 12 months earlier.
He will be released on parole tomorrow.
The 37-year-old pleaded guilty via video link in the Southport District Court yesterday to two counts of choking, two counts of common assault and one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.
“You really have to lift your game,” Judge David Kent told Owen.
He was sentenced to three years in prison with a parole release tomorrow.
The COVID-19 pandemic was taken into account during sentencing as “the movement of people into prisons or failing to release people from prisons … are relevant to public health at the moment”.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Hynes told the court Owen went to the woman’s house about 6pm on May 30 last year and let himself in using a key.
He falsely accused her of infidelity and called her a “maggot, slut and whore” before grabbing her by the neck and covering her nose and mouth.
He held her so tight the woman could not breathe and she thought she was going to die, the court was told.
Owen threw her into another room where he choked her again.
The woman escaped his clutches, asked him to leave and told Owen she would call police.
“He said, ‘You will be dead before they come’,” Mr Hynes said.
Photos taken after the attack and tendered to the court showed bruising around the woman’s neck. The pair had been together for four years at the time.
Mr Hynes said the woman declined to provide a victim impact statement because she did not want to relive the incident.
The court was told about a year earlier Owen was placed on probation for a similar assault on the woman in which he had placed his hands around her neck. Defence barrister David Funch, instructed by Karsas Lawyers, said Owen had mental health issues but it was unclear how those issues were linked to the offending.
Mr Funch said Owen had plans to move to Hervey Bay where he would act as his elderly father’s carer.
“He has been an absolute model prisoner and there are very favourable case notes from prison officials,” Mr Funch said.
The woman ended the relationship with Owen in the wake of the attack.