Man unleashes anger on former partner in front of children

Drunk and in a rage, a Mackay man grabbed his former partner by the throat with both hands as three children witnessed the attack.

A Mackay father has had 15 months added to his jail term for a violent attack on his former partner during a home invasion. Picture: Thinkstock

THREE children watched as a man gripped their mother by her throat during a violent home invasion in Mackay.

She was Jason Michael Hayes' former partner, but the pair had split for good mid-last year.

On October 24 last year he sent his former partner an abusive text message "out of the blue” at 3.44pm, sparking a violent confrontation barely three hours later at her home.

Crown prosecutor Gavin Webber said she tried to stop him, but Hayes knocked her to the ground, fracturing her wrist as he pushed his way inside the house.

Drunk and in a rage, he then grabbed her by the throat with both hands as her three children, two of whom were his, witnessed the attack.

"He pushed her onto the couch by her throat,” Mr Webber said.

"He stood over the top of her with his hands on her neck.”

Hayes only left after he realised one of her daughters had phoned 000.

Judge Julie Dick said domestic violence was a scourge.

"The courts hear day in, day out where men get full of grog and bad manners... you shouldn't have gone there, you shouldn't have broken in,” she said.

The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to burglary with violence and assault occasioning bodily harm.

The court heard he had been released on parole in March last year but had been in custody since this offending.

"He made admissions to the offending, although he did try to paint the complainant as somehow the aggressor,” Mr Webber said.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan told the court his client began using ice after the relationship first broke down and he didn't see his children for about nine years.

"He struggled with drug addiction... until he was incarcerated in 2017,” he said.

The court heard the pair started talking again after he was released and their relationship kicked off again, albeit briefly before she moved out.

"When he was arrested by police... his blood alcohol was 0.139 (per cent),” Mr McLennan said, adding his client had drunk two litres of cask wine and was upset over discussions about when he would see his children.

"My client's very ashamed of what he did,” he said.

The court heard Hayes' criminal history mostly consisted of property and drug offending.

Because Hayes was on parole this sentence must be added to the one he was currently serving, which ends on November 11 this year.

As a result Judge Dick reduced the jail term to 15 months with parole eligibility in September this year.

Originally published as Man unleashes anger on former partner in front of children