Gympie region tradie threatens to kill partner, kids in shocking DV act

A trip to Pizza Hut took a terrifying and traumatic turn when an abusive Gympie man threatened to bash, punch or kill his family, and drive their vehicle over a cliff in a shocking case of domestic violence.

A trip to Pizza Hut took a terrifying and traumatic turn when an abusive Gympie man threatened to bash, punch or kill his family, and drive their vehicle over a cliff in a shocking case of domestic violence.

A Gympie region tradie has narrowly avoided jail time for a shocking series of domestic violence crimes against his ex-partner including threatening to drive her and their children off a cliff.

The man, aged in his 50s but who cannot legally be identified, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court Tuesday to 14 charges, including 12 breaches of a domestic violence protection order.

The court heard most of these related to the man verbally abusing his former partner, going to her home uninvited, driving past her home and, on one occasion, pushing her in the chest.

Police prosecutor Allison Johnston said his most serious offence happened while they were driving back to their coastal home after a trip with their children to Gympie’s Pizza Hut on July 16, 2023.

Sgt Johnston said police had been alerted to concerns about their safety that the man “had threatened to bash, punch or kill them and threatened to drive their vehicle off a cliff”.

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A trip to Pizza Hut took a terrifying and traumatic turn when an abusive Gympie man threatened to bash, punch or kill his family, and drive their vehicle over a cliff in a shocking case of domestic violence.

During police investigations, one of the children told police that during the trip the man became “verbally angry because a little power box had come loose”.

He started “punching the roof … yelling that he was going to drive … into a car to have the car crash” before further threatening to “drive off the hill” and “chuck them down a mountain”, Sgt Johnstone said.

Defence lawyer Chris Anderson said his client was lucky he had not been charged with stalking over his actions.

Mr Anderson said the man was now seeking counselling for his anger with men’s help programs and a psychologist.

He did not suffer from alcoholism or drug abuse, and the relationship was “well and properly concluded,” he said.

Magistrate Bevan Hughes told the man the community had had “a gutful” of domestic violence and said the man’s offending was so serious actual jail time was not out of the question.

The tradie, who pleaded guilty to 12 counts of aggravated contraventions of a domestic violence order, as well as single counts of public nuisance and breaching bail, was sentenced to six months jail, with the sentence to be suspended for one year.