Malcolm Kevin O’Neil who violently bashed his partner while she clutched her child avoids further jail time over drink driving

A father who was recently sentenced for violently bashing his partner has learned his fate for getting behind the wheel drunk with an unrestrained one-year-old in the car.

A man who was jailed after he viciously bashed his partner in a drunken rage as she held their child will serve no further time behind bars after he was sentenced for driving while nearly three times over the limit.

Malcolm Kevin O’Neil, 54, who previously told his partner he would “hunt her down”, was sentenced in the Mount Gambier District Court earlier this month for the shocking attack that left her “seeing stars”.

The violent incident occurred after an argument at the Limestone Coast Caravan Park saw him get behind the wheel in search of more booze before crashing on the Jubilee Hwy on September 3, 2021.

Malcolm Kevin O’Neil’s used their child to trap his partner in the abusive relationship. Picture: File

Fronting the Mount Gambier Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, O’Neil avoided further imprisonment despite driving three times over the limit with an unrestrained infant in the front seat.

Following his District Court appearance, Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said any term of imprisonment for his driving matters would be purely “hypothetical”.

“If I do order any term of imprisonment in relation to any of these matters — it will run concurrent with the current term of imprisonment,” Ms Kossieavelos said.

O’Neil got behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.145 before spinning his tyres, losing control and ploughing into a tree, the court heard.

O’Neil then bashed and choked his partner while she clutched their infant child, and left the woman unable to breath or scream for help.

Malcolm Kevin O’Neil, 54, who bashed and choked his partner, while she clutched her one-year-old could be free in less than a year despite threats he would ‘hunt her down’. Picture: File

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Heath Barklay told the Mount Gambier District Court O’Neil had little hope for rehabilitation without serious psychological treatment.

“Your unstable disposition and propensity to violence makes you an ongoing risk to the community,” Judge Barklay said.

A psychological report tendered to court found O’Neil had “very limited mental health and cognitive resources and (is) very emotionally unstable”.

O’Neil’s father was described in court as a “raving lunatic” who domestically abused both the accused and his mother.

The court previously heard from O’Neil’s partner of 20 years who said she still lives with the “nightmare” of their abusive relationship.

“I felt like a prisoner in my own home, too scared to leave,” the victim said.

“You also wouldn’t allow me to leave and if I did try and you would not let me take my son.

“I would never leave my son — so I was never able to leave and get away to safety.

“You told me you would come for me and hunt me down if I ever left you — that police would have to shoot you down to stop you from coming for me.

“I’m so fearful of you and what you’re capable of.”

O’Neil previously pleaded guilty to one count of strangulation and one count of aggravated assault in relation to the 2021 attack.

He also pleaded guilty to a number of traffic offences including drive under disqualification, drive with prescribed alcohol with a child under 16, drive with an unrestrained passenger under 16, sustaining a wheel spin and aggravated drive without due care.

O’Neil has been in and out of jail for 21 years, nearly half his life and has a history of domestic violence.

O’Neil was handed a sentence of two years six months and 18 days with a non parole period of two years and 16 days, which was backdated to September 3, 2021.

For his driving offences he was handed a three year licence disqualification, which will begin once he is released from prison, with a conviction recorded.

He will be eligible for parole as early as September next year.