Glen Ernest Whitfield pleads guilty to malicious act with intent

Confronting police footage showed a severely beaten and blood-soaked woman sitting on a set of front stairs hours after she was savagely attacked by a man she knew. WARNING: GRAPHIC

Confronting police footage showed a severely beaten and blood-soaked woman sitting on a set of front stairs hours after she was savagely attacked by a man she knew.

Her matted hair partially hid her severely swollen face as an agonising whimper was audible from her lips.

Her white shirt was stained red, and blood splattered her arms and legs, pooling on the step below.

Her eyes are so swollen she could barely see and she was cradling an obviously injured wrist.

The footage lasting eight minutes was difficult to stomach, but it was played as the man who caused these hideous injuries pleaded guilty in Mackay District Court to malicious act with intent.

The pair had known each other for years and had been involved in a “complicated” on/off relationship – but that did not stop Glen Ernest Whitfield from unleashing a violent, vicious and prolonged assault inside the West Mackay home.

The horror bashing labelled as a “vicious, brutal attack” happened on January 27, 2019 at West Mackay.

Whitfield, now 48, had been staying with the woman, who he had known since 2015, for about two weeks and she was teasing him about a mess he made as she was cleaning it up.

Crown prosecutor Elise Sargent said about midday he pressured her to take a blue coloured tablet, “she can’t remember much after that”.

But she was forced to relive it as the shocking facts were detailed in court, while she listened in to the sentence.

Between 1.31pm and 1.47pm Whitfield unleashed shocking violence on the incapacitated woman.

Her CCTV footage paints a chilling picture as Whitfield is captured repeatedly moving in and out the house covered in more and more blood each time he appeared in front of the cameras before he fled the house.

About 4pm she managed to seek help from a neighbour, who called police – and their body-worn camera footage was played in court.

“There were large amounts of blood ultimately seen throughout (the home), including on the walls, floors and also there was a blood train leading from the back door of the house,” Ms Sargent said.

Police found a bloodstained hockey stick in the kitchen, however Whitfield told police he used his fists.

Ms Sargent said it was a “moot point” – “he either used the hockey stick to inflict those injuries … or he used his own physical force and physical strength to inflict the injuries”.

The court heard the woman’s injuries included a severely swollen face to the extent she could barely see out of one eye and could not see out the other and had to be placed into an induced coma to protect her airway.

She had fractures to her face and ribs, a compound fracture to her wrist that needed surgery, various cuts and severe bruising and swelling.

Whitfield was on the run from police for about six weeks, until his arrest on March 2 – he has remained in custody since then, totalling about two years and eight months.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan said his client was exposed to an alcoholic mother and an alcoholic and violent stepfather and developed significant and enduring psychological issues at a young age.

He was unable to control his temper and had been prone to “explosive rage”, but had no incidents since his time in jail.

The court heard Whitfield told police he “shorted out and p*ssed my sh*t” because he had lost property in a fire, some friends had died and a friend lost a baby.

“And he thinks he took it out on the (victim),” Ms Sargent said.

“He told police there’s no way anyone deserves … the way I flipped out.”

Mr McLennan said the injuries suffered had been the result of only one attack and not the result of separate attacks – he argued the CCTV only established there was an assault between 1.31 and 1.47pm.

He said his client had since had consistent counselling and was no longer bottling up his feelings.

“He spent most of his adult life not really understanding what was wrong with him, being given multiple diagnoses for his multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia and not having consistent treatment,” Mr McLennan said.

The court heard Whitfield had initially offered to plead guilty to the less serious charge of grievous bodily harm, which the crown rejected.

Judge Gregory Lynham said it was a “prolonged, persistent, vicious, brutal attack” on a woman in her own home.

“There’s a real cowardly aspect to the offending that he’s left a woman who he’s brutally assaulted in her own home and left without any concern whatsoever about her welfare,” Judge Lynham said, later saying there was “no justification whatsoever” and demonstrated a degree of callousness.

Whitfield was jailed for seven years with parole eligibility in March 2022 after serving three years.