Businessman spent up to $1750 a day on cocaine before assaulting girlfriend

A businessman was spending up to $1750 a day on cocaine before he assaulted his girlfriend in an “alarming” attack, a court has been told.

A Bondi businessman was ingesting up to $1750 worth of cocaine every day before he assaulted his girlfriend in an “alarming” domestic violence altercation, a court has been told.

Marco Furia was sentenced in Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on Friday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

According to the court documents, the 42-year-old spent the night with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Rossella Veraldi before she left the apartment after 5am on June 18 last year.

As she was walking out of the building, Furia grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards, forcing her to the ground.

Marco Furia has avoided jail for assaulting his girlfriend. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

The documents show he continued to hold her on the ground, with one hand on her hair and one hand on her shoulder, for the next 10 seconds.

After another incident during which Furia grabbed Ms Veraldi’s upper body, they both returned to his apartment.

Later that same day, CCTV footage from the Bondi apartment building shows Ms Veraldi trailing behind Furia as he nears the front door of the building.

She grabs the 42-year-old with both arms and holds onto his shirt as she repeatedly tries to pull him backwards to face her.

Ms Veraldi has not been charged in relation to the altercation.

The surveillance footage shows Furia jerk away from his girlfriend and swing his right elbow, which hit her in the face.

Furia grabbed Rossella Veraldi’s hair and forced her to the ground, the court was told.

The court was told he later swung an elbow into her face, bruising her eye.

Ms Veraldi immediately recoils and drops to the ground clutching her face. The agreed facts state she was in “immediate pain” and sustained bruising to her eye.

On Friday, magistrate Sean Hughes slammed the businessman’s “somewhat ongoing” assault as “degrading” and “certainly alarming”.

He noted the 42-year-old had been reckless when he turned around in the foyer and raised his elbow.

“He’s obviously turned his mind to the possibility of making contact (with the victim) and continues anyway,” Mr Hughes said.

“It’s unacceptable. Australian society has accepted, somewhat belatedly, that domestic violence is a scourge on this country.”

Yet Mr Hughes accepted the assaults were “out of character” and “an aberration” for Furia, who does not have any prior record of violence.

CCTV footage shows Furia turning around suddenly in the foyer.

The court was told the 42-year-old was using illegal drugs at the time of the assaults.

“No one is able to function properly when they’re using 3-5 grams of coke a day,” Mr Hughes said.

Furia would have been spending up to $1750 a day on cocaine, based on the average cost of one gram of cocaine in Australia outlined in the United Nations Drug Report.

His barrister Margaret Cunneen SC agreed that “all the problems in his life come from drugs”.

She explained Furia’s arrest for domestic violence assault was “a very confronting experience” that had forced him to re-evaluate his life choices.

“He is determined to never again touch drugs,” Ms Cunneen told the court.

Ms Veraldi clutches her face after falling to the ground.

She said the businessman had completed a three-month residential rehabilitation program and was committed to engaging with the program in future.

A psychologist concluded the “enormity of his remorse and regret is apparent” after an evaluation earlier this year.

Mr Hughes noted the businessman had time to “soberly reflect on his actions” and had already been subjected to “a certain amount of significant punishment”.

He sentenced Furia to two 12-month community corrections orders and fined him $1500.

“There needs to be some sting in the tail when people assault others,” Mr Hughes said.

Originally published as Businessman spent up to $1750 a day on cocaine before assaulting girlfriend