Mackay region father charged with rape, choking, assault on partner

A court has heard horror allegations of vicious attack on a woman including that she was stripped naked and raped outside a regional home. WARNING: Confronting details

A Mackay region man is accused of rape, choking and assault against his former partner.

Horror details about an alleged vicious attack on a woman have been revealed including that she was stripped naked and sexually assaulted outside the home she shared with her former partner.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard a sexual assault kit was not performed on the woman after she alleged her ex digitally raped her on the lawn outside a Mackay region home while “accusing her of being a sl-t”.

The offending allegedly occurred over two days in June 2023.

A man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with two counts each of choking and assault causing bodily harm, and one count each of rape, common assault, wilful damage and breaching a police protection notice.

It is alleged he verbally abused her, “has taken (her) shirt off so that she was naked and then dragged her by her arms over the rear patio” resulting in “considerable grazes to her back and legs”.

The court heard she tried to go back into the house and it was alleged he knocked her to the ground and choked her before punching her to the side of her head.

A Mackay region man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with two counts each of choking and assault causing bodily harm, and one count each of rape, common assault, wilful damage and breaching a police protection notice.

It is further alleged she was locked outside the home naked and he, while holding their young child, dragged her by her hair onto the back lawn area and kicked her to the head, buttocks and thighs.

It is alleged he also dragged her by her hair again to the grassed area and choked her a second time.

“(She) said she thought she was going to die and was struggling to breathe … (she) has then crawled into the foetal position,” Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said in summing up the allegations during a bail application.

“The allegation is (he) has kicked her in the head and the ribs.”

It is alleged he then digitally raped her while verbally abusing her.

The court heard police arrived and “a police protection notice was the only action that was taken”.

The court heard the woman was taken to hospital via ambulance and no sexual assault kit was carried out.

“It’s also been pointed out that on that occasion police did not arrest the (man) and take him to the watch house and no charges at that time flowed,” Ms Hartigan said.

The court heard while the woman was at the hospital the man allegedly sent text messages that he was burning her property and calling her “a dog sl-t”.

It is alleged the following day she went to the property to look for her motel key and he assaulted her again while swearing at her, and he sprayed her in the face with a shaken-up can of alcohol.

The man appeared in court via videolink on the eight charges.

Ms Hartigan said the allegations were serious but the man was “innocent until proven guilty”, had strong ties to the community including work, family and a rental home, and was otherwise of good character.

“He has no criminal history whatsoever, he had very minor traffic history,” Ms Hartigan said.

The court heard while there were photos and a notebook statement that provided “some corroboration” of the allegations, Ms Hartigan also acknowledged there was “significant division between the parties”.

“At the very least there are arguments to run at trial,” she said, finding strict conditions would ameliorate any bail risk.

“There are charges that may flow from incontrovertible evidence but not necessarily the charges that are before the court.”

The man was granted bail but he must comply with residential and no contact conditions.

Matters were adjourned to late August for mention.