Joshua Williams pleads guilty to recklessly causing injury

A Ballarat man with a history of violence bashed a woman in front of children in a Barwon Heads hotel room, leaving her bloodied and bruised.

Ballarat’s Joshua Williams pleaded guilty to intentionally causing injury after he bashed a woman in a Barwon Heads Hotel room. Picture: istock

A holiday in Barwon Heads turned violent, when a Ballarat man viciously assaulted a woman in a hotel room.

Joshua Williams, 42, appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and assault over the June 22 incident.

Magistrate Simon Guthrie placed Williams on a 15-month community corrections order, with conviction, describing his as a “violent man”.

According to an agreed summary released by the court, Williams and his victim were staying in the Barwon Heads hotel.

At 10.30pm, Williams got angry with the victim for “booking unsuitable accommodation” as loud music from the venue could be heard in their room.

Williams “moved over to the victim’s side of the bed and began hitting the victim in the face and upper body”. He hit her 5-6 times with “reasonable force”, court documents state.

When the victim got up, Williams followed and began punching the victim in the face again as he pushed the victim down to the floor between two twin beds.

During the attack, one of the victim’s children became upset and told Williams to stop hitting his mother, asking her if she was okay.

The victim got off the floor and ran downstairs for help, where a hotel security guard saw she had “blood and cuts on her face”.

The Barwon Heads Hotel. Picture: Peter Ristevski

She was holding a white towel to her face to stem the blood and police were called.

Meanwhile, Williams left the hotel and was apprehended in Sebastopol at 2.21am.

Williams’ lawyer, Hollie Lyons, made extensive submissions on her clients’ behalf, with the court “inundated with a bundle of materials” including a neuropsychology report and other medical reports.

The court heard while the neuropsychologist’s report found Williams doesn’t meet the threshold for an acquired brain injury or an intellectual disability, it found he was operating in the lower level of functioning

“When you get numbers like 95-96 per cent of people would do better on these particular tests... it’s through that lens that he sees the world,” Ms Lyons said, arguing for a “small level” of moderation in Williams’ moral culpability.

Mr Guthrie noted the outline of what happened that Williams’ told a doctor was “quite different” to the summary he pleaded guilty to.

The court heard Williams had also completed the Caring Dads behaviour change program.

Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Kerrie-Ann Moroney argued for a term of imprisonment, describing it as a serious incidence of family violence, occurring in front of children, that led to the victim sustaining injuries.

Williams also had a criminal history dating back to 2013, including a 2023 conviction for recklessly causing injury and placed on a 14-month CCO, which he breached with this offending and was fined $1500 plus costs.

“This type of behaviour is not condoned in any way in our community... a clear message needs to be sent,” Constable Moroney said.

The matter was briefly stood down so Williams could be assessed by Corrections Victoria, who found him suitable for a CCO.

Originally published as Joshua Williams pleads guilty to recklessly causing injury