Leonard John Warwick's marriage with his now ex-wife started normally before the accused Family Court bomber turned violent, his Sydney murder trial has heard.
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Warwick, 71, has pleaded not guilty to four murders - including the shooting deaths of his brother-in-law and a judge - and 20 other offences relating to seven events which occurred between February 1980 and July 1985.
The prosecutor says he was involved in a long-running Family Court dispute which "inextricably linked" him to the events and gave him a motivation to commit the offences.
His ex-wife, Andrea Blanchard, told the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday their marriage in 1974 was normal at first but changed after five or six months.
"In what way?" crown prosecutor Ken McKay asked.
"Violence, in the marriage," Ms Blanchard replied.
She said she wasn't allowed to visit her family or learn to drive, and she temporarily left Warwick in 1975 when he assaulted her by "physically hitting me and abusive kicking and punching".
"I left the house, I ran out of the house and rang my father ... he came and picked me up from the phone box," she said.
A couple of weeks may have passed before she returned home, Ms Blanchard said on Thursday. She left the marriage for good in 1979.
The trial before Justice Peter Garling continues.
Australian Associated Press
