A Wollongong magistrate has blasted a ‘loving father’ who menaced his partner in view of the couple’s children, in repeated defiance of an apprehended violence order.
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The Lake Illawarra man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Wollongong Local Court on Monday to face 12 charges stemming from a series of unwanted encounters with his partner, including charges of assault.
The pair share two children as a result of their four-year “on-and-off” relationship,
The court heard the woman first sought protection from police in March when the man used a text message to threaten her – “I’m going to cave your head in with a hammer” - as she was preparing for a date with a new love interest.
Later that month he arrived at her home in breach of an apprehended violence order, telling her, “I want to see my kids”.
He threatened to take the couple’s children and – when locked out of the home – threatened to smash the window in unless he was allowed inside.
Once granted entry, he pressed his forehead against the woman’s and told her “why are you doing this to our family? I love you”.
He held her down and, in the ensuing scuffle, knocked one of his children in the jaw, causing the child to cry.
The court heard the man then picked the woman up and repeatedly threw her on the ground before taking her mobile phone and fleeing.
In other encounters, the man followed the woman to child care and would be waiting for her when she returned to her car from the supermarket.
On Monday the man’s lawyer, Danny Lagopodis, told the court his client had acted out of a desire to see his children.
“There can’t be any dispute that he is a loving father,” he began.
But Magistrate Mark Douglass did not accept this.
“He’s a loving father, so he commits acts of violence in front of his children?” he said.
“What he’s done is wrong. In relation to the children, he may have feelings for them, I accept that, but what he’s done in front of them is unacceptable, criminal behaviour. That is not what a loving father does. It’s frightening for a young child to have to endure Mummy and Daddy going through that.
“It’s frightening for a child to see that. He couldn’t put his own needs – or what he thought were his own needs – to the side for the sake of his children.”
The man will return to court for sentencing in December. The magistrate has ordered a pre-sentence report, and indicated the man faces a probable custodial sentence.
Meantime, the man has been ordered to avoid contacting the woman and – unless through a legal avenue – his children, for two years.