Man stabs woman in head
A defenceless woman was stabbed in the back of her head by her drunken partner – the third time in four years he had seriously assaulted her.
Edward Irvin Campbell, 36, appeared in the District Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to charges of wounding and breaching a Domestic Violence Order.
The court was told that Campbell has a substantial criminal history in the Northern Territory that included eight prior convictions for aggravated assault.
Crown Prosecutor Shannon Sutherland said those assaults included the use of weapons, including knives, torches, sticks and bottles.
She said he had seriously assaulted the same partner in 2018 and 2020 before his most recent attack on her, in February last year in Townsville.
“The couple had been drinking together, which was in contravention of a DVO from the Northern Territory, then the woman went to the bedroom,” said Ms Sutherland.
She said Campbell had followed the woman into the bedroom and found her lying face down on the bed.
The court heard he had then stabbed her in the back of the head with a 30cm kitchen knife.
“Another man living in the house had pulled Campbell away and they had struggled, before Campbell left the house,” she said.
Ms Sutherland said police later arrested Campbell at another location with his clothing covered in her blood.
She said at the time of the assault he was on bail and also subject to the DVO from the NT.
The woman required stitches in her head.
“There had been no argument, he just stabbed her out of nowhere,” said Ms Sutherland.
Defence barrister Ross Malcolmson said Campbell, a father of five, had worked as a kitchen hand previously in the Northern Territory and hoped to return to that sort of work after he was released.
Judge Dennis Lynch KC told Campbell that if he continued to assault people when intoxicated he would ‘be locked up for a very long time’.
He sentenced him to three years’ jail, but noted he had spent 448 days in pre-sentence custody.
He set Campbell’s parole date for May 4.