Man sentenced for deliberate car crash with pregnant partner on board

A Central Queensland man who deliberately crashed a car with his pregnant partner in it, also armed himself with a fire hydrant cover and attacked another driver.

A man has been jailed in a Gladstone court for multiple violence offences. Generic image.

A Central Queensland man who deliberately crashed a car with his pregnant partner in it, has been jailed.

Jesse Michael James Clark-Ewers, 25, appeared in custody in Gladstone Magistrates Court on September 27 where he pleaded guilty to 18 charges including assault occasioning bodily harm while armed/in company, going armed to cause fear, and dangerous operation of a vehicle (domestic violence offence).

The court heard the assault occasioning bodily harm and going armed offences happened on July 6 at Boyne Island and police prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Ongheen said they were “extremely concerning”.

Sgt Ongheen said in a possible road rage incident, Clark-Ewers used a fire hydrant cover to smash the victim’s driver side car mirror, “causing glass to shatter and spray over the victim.”

“(Clark-Ewers) has then raised the fire hydrant cover over his head with both hands, bringing it down at the victim’s head,” Sgt Ongheen said.

“The victim has thankfully thrown his hands out and managed to grab the fire hydrant cover with his hands, and pushed (Clark-Ewers) away.

“In doing so, he (victim) jarred his wrist... but he blocked the cover from hitting his head.”

The court heard the dangerous operation of a vehicle offence happened on the same day.

It was told that Clark-Ewers was a passenger in a car being driven by the aggrieved woman who was pregnant with his child, when he grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it to the left, causing the vehicle to mount a curb and crash into a parked car at a residence.

“It is just fortuitous that he survived (the crash), the victim survived and the unborn child survived,” Sgt Ongheen said.

Gladstone Courthouse.

The court heard that Clark-Ewers had a five-page criminal history and a one-page traffic history and at the time of committing these offences, he was on two suspended sentences.

Solicitor Bianca Wieland said this was the first time that Clark-Ewers had committed “serious violence offences” in the community.

Ms Wieland said Clark-Ewers, a father of three, was born in New South Wales and moved to Gladstone in 2015.

The solicitor said Clark-Ewers was educated to Year 9 before leaving school to work for a landscaping company.

Ms Wieland said at the time of his offending, Clark-Ewers had been struggling with a close friend’s death and since being incarcerated, he had been seeing a psychologist.

Magistrate Mary Buchanan sentenced Clark-Ewers to 18 months’ jail and she activated the suspended sentences which added three months to that.

Ms Buchanan declared 51 days in pre-sentence custody as time already served, and she fixed parole release at February 6, 2024.

Clark-Ewers was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Convictions were recorded.