Man acted in a misguided attempt to protect an ex-partner from perceived threat
A Supreme Court judge has jailed a man who inflicted permanent injuries during a savage attack he claimed was protecting his ex-partner from perceived threats. The latest from court.
A Beechford man who lay in wait for an older man and brutally bashed him in a misguided attempt to protect an ex-partner was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Launceston.
Lucas Brent Carr, 40, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and two counts of breaching a police family violence order at Lower Barrington, in north west Tasmania.
Justice Michael Brett said Carr and the 45-year-old complainant had had a prior falling out before the offence on September 14, 2025.
“The complainant made it clear he knew where your ex-partner lived and that he could go there anytime,” Justice Brett said.
“You took that as a threat to harm her and were apprehensive that he would act on the threat.
“You went to your ex-partner’s house to intercept him and hid without the knowledge of your ex-partner.”
The court heard that the complainant and his 53-year-old friend were intoxicated when they arrived at the house.
Carr confronted them and the complainant told him he had a firearm in his car and started to move towards the car.
”You attacked him punching him which caused him to fall to the ground and then punched him 20 more times to the head and body,” Justice Brett said.
He said that Carr was wearing a ring at the time of the assault.
The victim was taken to hospital where he was treated for eye and facial injuries and a broken nose.
He suffered a detached retina and loss of vision, which had not improved since.
“You said you acted in self-defence or defence of another but the force used was excessive and subjectively reckless,” he said.
“It was a brutal attack which caused significant and permanent injury.
Justice Brett said the defendant had been in full time employment until the assault.
“You have a significant criminal history which includes a prior offence for common assault in 2007 and three counts of assaulting police,” Justice Brett said.
“This was a brutal assault of considerable objective seriousness,” he said.
He said it was a misguided way to protect his partner when the complainant went to retrieve the firearm.
He activated a four month suspended jail sentence handed down in the Launceston Magistrates Court on March 12, 20025 and added a further 16 months for the latest offences-a total jail term of 20 months backdated to September 19, 2025.
Carr was made eligible for parole after 10 months.
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Originally published as Man acted in a misguided attempt to protect an ex-partner from perceived threat
