Rockhampton’s Jaydon Morris Leahy jailed for assaults on girlfriend

A boyfriend convicted of animal cruelty wrapped tracksuit pants around his girlfriend’s head while he brutally beat her then took police on a cat-and-mouse chase while on meth. Warning: Disturbing content

Jaydon Morris Leahy.

A man who carried out a violent attack on a woman so brutal he wrapped clothing around her head then continued the shocking assault, had previously been convicted for animal cruelty, assaulting police and a carer and using a car to cause grievous bodily harm.

Jaydon Morris Leahy, 34, also drove around rural Queensland in a cat-and-mouse type chase to avoid police, with his severely injured victim in the car, Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton told Rockhampton District Court this week.

He said Leahy, who has complex mental health issues, and his victim, who was his partner of eight months and carer at the time, both used methamphetamines on Christmas Eve 2022 before Leahy accused her of cheating on him with his brother.

Judge Michael Byrne said Leahy then threatened to kill his partner.

“You threw her down a hallway and started punching her in the face,” he said.

Leahy went on to smash her head against a wall of a Gracemere residence, causing her to black out and see stars.

He then forced her into a cupboard and wouldn’t let her out for at least two minutes despite her repeated requests to be let out.

When Leahy did let her out, he grabbed her by the throat and squeezed for about five minutes.

She recalls not being able to breathe.

“I take that to mean at various stages,” Judge Byrne said.

USED KNEE TO HOLD HER DOWN BY THROAT

“Clearly if she couldn’t breathe for five minutes, you’d be in the Supreme Court.

“You did let go – you used your knee to hold her down by the throat.

“She wanted to scream but she couldn’t make a noise.”

Leahy then kicked her in the ribs and dragged her down a hallway, telling her he was going to make sure she would looked “absolutely ugly”.

Judge Byrne said this showed her intended to cause her pain and embarrassment.

“You did help her off the ground,” he said.

‘YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO KILL HER’

“The Ying to that Yang is that you then hit her in the head until she fell back down.

“After sometime doing that, you wrapped a pair of tracksuit pants around her mouth and kept hitting her head against the wall.

“You told her you were going to take her for a drive and kill her.”

His partner passed out at this point and woke up some stage, but her memory was vague.

Leahy drove them to his family home where he asked for painkillers for her.

“Your family saw that she was bleeding and they told you that you had to leave,” Judge Byrne said.

Leahy was on the way to a hospital when he was spotted by police.

He then spent the next two days driving around Queensland, avoiding police.

Gracemere man Jaydon Leahy.

The cat-and-mouse chase ended when the car ran out of fuel on the Warrego Highway at Mitchell.

Mr Sutton said Leahy lied to police, saying men in balaclavas had caused the injuries to his girlfriend.

The woman, who was in court for the sentencing proceedings, suffered a subdural haematoma, broken ribs and significant bruising from Leahy’s prolonged attack.

Mr Sutton said the most notable entry in Leahy’s four-page criminal record was a conviction for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm in 2015 after he intentionally drove at two people and injured one.

Judge Byrne said that was not really a traffic offence because Leahy had used the car as a weapon “to finalise a dispute” between himself and others.

Mr Sutton said Leahy breached the four-year suspended sentence from that incident three times – once when he was convicted for animal cruelty by acting “violently towards dogs in a really horrendous way”.

He said another breach was when he assaulted his carer.

HISTORY OF MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES

Defence barrister Sheridan Shaw said her client, who had a history of mental health struggles, had been attacked in 2019, which further complicated his mental health struggles, cognitive functioning issues and impaired mental functioning.

She said he has been approved for 30 hours per week support under the NDIS scheme.

Leahy, who sat bent with his head in his hand for most of the proceedings, pleaded guilty on April 16 to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one each of choking and deprivation of liberty.

Judge Byrne sentenced Leahy to three years and nine months prison, declared 477 days presentence custody as time served and set parole eligibility for April 16, 2024.

Leahy wiped tears from his eyes as the sentence was handed down.