Aaron Barba jailed in Mackay court for domestic violence

A Mackay father will get out of jail just in time to celebrate his son’s first birthday after he kicked his girlfriend and punched her ribs. Read what his mum said in support.

Aaron Leigh Barba, 38, from East Mackay appeared in Mackay Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A Mackay father will get out of jail just in time to celebrate his son’s first birthday after he kicked his girlfriend and punched her ribs.

Aaron Leigh Barba faced Mackay Magistrates Court via video link from jail for the assault on January 21 which resulted in his 12th contravention of a domestic violence order.

Acting magistrate Paul Byrne said Barba had an “unimpressive history” which also included an assault occasioning bodily harm, and an violence against a different partner in 2019 when he threatened her with a broken piece of wood from a bed.

Solicitor Geoff Govey asked for a six to nine months jail sentence for Barba who he said had prospects of getting a job upon release from custody.

“He’s not proud of the offences,” Mr Govey said, adding Barba was seeking to enrol in a Lives Lived Well program to “hopefully” nip his domestic violence offending “in the bud”.

Police prosecutor Leonie Taufa’ao also pushed for the same custodial sentence, saying Barba’s criminal history made him unsuitable for community-based orders.

Aaron Leigh Barba, in action on the field. Barba also faced Mackay Magistrates Court in 2018 pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm. He had attacked the player of an opposing team right after a match wrapped up.

Mr Byrne turned to Barba’s mum, who was in court alongside Barba’s eldest daughter, to ask her opinion of what he should do.

“He should be let out,” she said with Mr Byrne then asking whether that was “just because it’s Easter?”

Mr Byrne then asked her: “How are we going to get him to pull his head in?”

The mum replied she had seen “a lot of change” in her 42-year-old son in recent weeks whose youngest child was about to turn one.

Mr Byrne told Barba he still had 40-odd years to live and surrounding himself with steel and besser blocks was a “prick of a way to spend” time.

He told Barba to “pull his head in” as he had made himself a “marked man” with police with domestic violence offending dominating the news.

Barba — who pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence), contravention of a domestic violence order, and wilful damage (domestic violence) — was sentenced to nine months’ jail with an immediate parole release date, with 67 days of presentence custody declared as time already served.

Convictions were recorded.