Jail for vicious attack

Man, 46, punched the mother of his kids

A VICIOUS and protracted assault by Cairns concreter Andrew Robert Maher on the mother of his children was the result of unresolved grief and anger from the suicide of his daughter, a court yesterday heard.

Maher, 46 appeared in Cairns District Court and pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and breaching a domestic violence order in Earlville on May 27 last year.

Maher suffered “unresolved grief and anger issues” dating to when he found his daughter’s body in his former partner’s house in 2015.

The court heard the girl’s mother was in the house, high on methylamphetamines at the time.

The night of the offence, Maher had put up the woman and their two sons in his home.

“He was told by the complainant that she had lost her house, that she was on the street,” defending barrister James Sheridan said.

An argument broke out between the two at 10pm “which tracked back to the death of the daughter ... culminated in the complainant punching the defendant in the face.”

Maher was given a black eye, and, under the influence of heavy drinking, lost control.

The court heard he punched her and accused her of killing their daughter. She retreated to the bedroom to pack, but Maher followed her and began to choke her.

Despite the efforts of their youngest son begging him to stop and the eldest trying to in- tervene, Maher dragged her by the hair across the house and kneed her in the head.

Judge Tracy Fantin said the assault was “disproportionate to any provocation.” She jailed Maher for two years, to be paroled after six months.