Narsen Moffat jailed for multiple assaults, including horrific attack on Irene McHugh

A thug has been slammed as a monster after he was jailed for dragging a terrified woman along the road in just one of his many unprovoked assaults.

A man has been slammed by a brave survivor as “pure evil” after she was left seriously injured in a sickening attack where she believed she might die.

Narsen Moffat, 31, was jailed for three years for several brutal attacks on unsuspecting people, including one where he told a female employee he wasn’t afraid to hit a woman.

During sentencing on Thursday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court heard Moffat collected Irene McHugh from her home in April 2023.

Moffat then punched her multiple times to the head before locking the car doors.

“She pleaded with you to let her go so she could return to her children but you kept punching her, telling her she would never see her kids again,” Magistrate Lynette Duncan said.

The court heard Ms McHugh managed to partially get out of the moving car but Moffat restrained her by pulling her hair.

“She managed to get out of the car but was being dragged along the road, causing burn type injuries to her arm and leg,” Ms Duncan said.

The court heard Ms McHugh fell out of the car before Moffat reversed, which caused the open car door to hit her to the face.

Ms McHugh then ran and started screaming for help.

Narsen Moffat was jailed for three years for multiple unprovoked assaults. Photo: Facebook

Narsen Moffat was told the community needed to be protected from him. Photo: Facebook

She was taken to hospital after receiving a concussion and swelling, after saying she believed she was punched 20 times by Moffat.

“He had my life in his hands and minute by minute he was slowly taking my life away from me ... with cruelty and violence,” Ms McHugh said in her powerful victim impact statement.

“On that day Narsen Moffatt showed me what true evil was.

“It’s hard to live but my will to survive for my children is far greater than my will to give up … I am a survivor.”

Ms McHugh’s daughter Talara told the court in her victim impact statement that she is thankful everyday that her mum wasn’t killed.

“Up until then I had never imagined a world without my mum in it,” she said.
“It was only because of my mum’s strength to come home to us that the nightmare didn’t become a reality.”

Moffat was also sentenced for multiple other offences, after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including assault causing harm, assault and dangerous driving.

The court heard a man was walking alone in Hindley St in April 2022 when Moffat punched him to the face and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Moffat also stole $115 of products from On the Run service station at Salisbury in November 2022.

The female store manager saw Moffat stealing the items and told him to leave the store.

She began calling police and Moffat charged at her male colleague and began punching him in the face multiple times.

“You then grabbed (the female victim) by the hair … and began wrenching her around,” Ms Duncan said.

“You punched her several times to the face and as you did so said words to the effect ‘I’m not afraid to hit a woman’.”

Moffat was also sentenced for dangerous driving after he began tailgating a driver in Westlakes in April 2023.

He then drove on the wrong side of the road and started speeding before colliding with the driver when he tried to overtake her.

The court heard Moffat had an extensive criminal history of assault and theft charges, including previously being jailed for punching a man after he didn’t like the advice he gave him in the courthouse.

Ms Duncan said the community needed to be protected from Moffat, who had descended into drug addiction after the death of a friend.

“That includes protecting individuals, both strangers and people known to you from being assaulted,” she said.

“Each of these assaults were entirely unprovoked.”

Ms Duncan sentenced Moffat to three years and 29 days jail, with a non-parole period of two years.

The sentence was backdated to May 6.