A man who subjected his partner to serious and often prolonged assaults has been jailed for his "gratuitous violence and cruelty", a magistrate labelling the facts of the case the most distressing she had encountered in her career.
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The 26-year-old Unanderra man, who is not named to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced in the Wollongong Local Court this week to five years' imprisonment - the maximum sentence open to the magistrate.
He will spend a minimum of three years and two months in jail, the sentence backdated to last August because of time already spent in custody.
The offender was with the victim for four years and the violence started early in the relationship.
Agreed facts tendered to the court detailed multiple violent assaults against the woman, involving kicking, punching, choking, biting and spitting, as well as verbal abuse.
On one occasion, the man slashed a kitchen knife towards the woman, who pleaded with him not to kill her, so fearful she was for her safety.
He also kicked her in the genital area so hard she bled for a week.
During another attack he pulled clumps of hair from her scalp, and on multiple occasions he screamed abuse at her so loudly it hurt her ears.
Another attack that occurred while the victim was pregnant with their daughter saw the man gouge her eye so deeply that the woman felt his finger go behind her eyeball and heard a popping sound.
This left her with a blackened eye for weeks.
Some of the attacks happened in front of the woman's young son and the couple's baby; in one instance, the boy got a small pocket knife and told the man to get off his mum, only to have the offender laugh and make fun of him.
The woman then gave the baby to her son and told him to get in the car, but before she could leave the offender stomped on her foot so hard she sustained three fractures.
The offender also assaulted a male friend while he was at the victim's house, trashed her house on two occasions, and scratched her car.
The man pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless grievous bodily harm, six charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, seven charges of common assault and two charges of intimidation.
In sentencing, Magistrate Susan McGowan also took into account other offences of assault, intimidation and damaging property.
"During my time on the bench now, I've never seen more distressing facts than these," Magistrate McGowan said.
Some of the offending took place even though an apprehended domestic violence order was in place, she said, and on three occasions the children were present.
Magistrate McGowan noted that the offender had written a letter to the court setting out his remorse and claiming he was "a changed man", and his partner since 2018 said she had experienced no violence from him.
He also had the support of his family, she said, and had made efforts towards drug rehabilitation and addressing mental health issues.
She said he had good prospects of rehabilitation, still being a young man, and was entitled to a 25 per cent discount on his sentence for his guilty pleas.
However, Magistrate McGowan said the victim sustained serious injuries and suffered severe psychological distress as a result of the man's violence, not to mention the impact on the young boy.
She listed aggravating features of the offending, including that it occurred against the victim in her own home, on one occasion involved a weapon, and for some of the time he was subject to an ADVO.
"There cannot be any doubt that the seriousness of these offences is objectively very serious," Magistrate McGowan said.
She said the man subjected his then-partner to "gratuitous violence and cruelty" that was demeaning "in the extreme".
Magistrate McGowan said the appropriate sentence for the charge of reckless grievous bodily harm was five years' imprisonment but jurisdictional limits meant she could only jail him for two years on the one offence.
In total, Magistrate McGowan jailed the man for a maximum five years on all charges, the limit in the Local Court.
She said she was prepared to find special circumstances, as submitted by the defence, because of the man's age, the need for rehabilitation, it being his first time in custody, and the impact of the pandemic.
As such, the magistrate set a longer period of parole; the man's earliest possible release date is in October 2023.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
