Ipswich dad walks free after assaulting 6yo daughter, partner at breakfast

An Ipswich dad hoisted his six-year-old daughter by the neck, threw her across a room and threatened his partner with a knife over a minor dispute at breakfast, a court has heard.

An Ipswich dad hoisted his six-year-old daughter by the neck, threw her across the room, and threatened his partner with a kitchen knife in an “out of control” domestic dispute at breakfast.

An Ipswich dad has walked free despite a magistrate denouncing “in the strongest possible terms” his violent assault on his partner and six-year-old daughter during breakfast.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court on May 4 to four domestic violence offences.

These included two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count each of common assault and threatening violence.

The court heard the four offences all took place on one morning in December last year at the man’s Ipswich home, which he shared with his partner and children at the time.

Magistrate Leanne Scoines said the man and his partner were arguing after one of the children refused to eat her breakfast before the trouble “significantly escalated”.

The court heard the man grabbed his oldest daughter, aged six, and threw her towards a bench area in the kitchen.

Ms Scoines said he then “grabbed the back of her neck and picked her up, causing pain and discomfort to her neck area”.

“You put two fingers of your hand at the front of her neck, causing pain … you’ve thrown this little girl into her sister’s room, you’ve kicked her in the left side near her hip,” Ms Scoines said.

“People are allowed to discipline their children. They’re not allowed to assault their children.

“What was perpetrated against (the daughter) was actually child abuse.”

The court was told the man also assaulted his partner while she was supervising the children eating breakfast.

Ms Scoines said the man punched his partner once in the face, causing swelling, and also in the stomach.

He then pushed her in the chest, retreated to the kitchen before returning with a large knife.

Ms Scoines said the man told his partner: “Go and tell them (the children) or I will start killing c**ts and I will stab you”.

When police arrived the man had locked himself inside his bedroom.

He admitted to some, but not all, of the offending to police.

The court heard his daughter’s full account was corroborated by a witness who had to intervene.

Police prosecutor Nick Turnbull said the man’s actions were “abhorrent” and that jail would be the “most just and appropriate” sentence.

“It is simply unacceptable that women should be treated in this way,’’ he said.

“We’ve got a young complainant (child) that is old enough to remember, in my respectful submission … that this happened to her.”

Sgt Turnbull conceded immediate parole would be the most suitable form of supervision as it would allow the man to attend courses to understand his behaviour and why it was “simply not on”.

Defence lawyer Michael Corbin argued for a suspended sentence and lengthy probation period.

“A lengthier period of support is going to be more helpful to him, to his family, and to the community as a whole,” Mr Corbin said.

Mr Corbin acknowledged his client had been dealt with for a previous domestic violence offence, but said the man was now working on an online parenting course and a course on men stopping violence.

He said his client was now actively engaging with the Department of Child Safety, which had since placed restrictions on the man’s interactions with his daughter.

Ms Scoines said the man’s offending was “particularly confronting” and that he was “extremely lucky” his daughter was not significantly injured.

“The whole situation was completely out of control and unacceptable and I am denouncing it in the strongest possible terms,” he said.

She noted Mr Corbin’s observation that there were presently very long waiting lists for support services in the community.

“I am inclined to think the longer supervision you have in the community the better,” she said.

Ms Scoines sentenced the man to a 12-month suspended sentence, with an operational period of three years, along with two years of probation.

Convictions were recorded, and the man was allowed to walk free.