Yeppoon father of two pleads guilty to DV, wilful damage charges

A Xmas Eve dispute in which he abused his partner in front of her family led to a Yeppoon labourer getting hauled before the courts for a string of offences dating back four months.

A Christmas Eve domestic dispute in front of his partner’s family led to a labourer and father of two being charged with a string of offences including smashing in the windows of the family home with rocks.

A Christmas Eve domestic dispute in front of his partner’s family led to a Yeppoon labourer being charged with a string of offences including smashing in the windows of the family home with rocks.

The 50-year-old man, who cannot be named so as to avoid identifying the victim, pleaded guilty before Bundaberg Magistrates Court via videolink on Friday to four counts of contravention of a domestic violence order and one count of wilful damage.

The court heard the man, his partner and their two children were visiting his partner’s family home on Christmas Eve when they began arguing after a period of drinking.

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The argument culminated in the man calling his partner a “lying f--king c--t” in front of her family, and he then left the home in his partner’s car, leaving his family stranded.

The man’s lawyer told the court he drove to another town to calm down and prevent any further arguments with his partner, and returned to Yeppoon on December 28 at his partner’s request following which he was arrested by police for numerous offences contravening a domestic violence order put in place in 2021.

The court heard in August 2023 the man and his partner’s older son from a previous relationship began a physical altercation in front of their Yeppoon home.

In the course of the fight the man armed himself with some large rocks, following which his partner yelled at him to stop fighting with her son and locked the doors of their home, leaving the man and her son outside.

After unsuccessfully trying to enter through the front door, the man yelled “open the f--king door or I’ll smash the window”.

After his partner locked the doors of the family home while the man was fighting with her son in front of the family home, the man smashed the front window with rocks.

When his partner refused to open the door, the man smashed in the front window next to the front door with the rocks he was carrying.

The court heard after the incident the man had said he would pay for the repairs to the window, but four months later the broken window had still not been repaired.

In November 2023, the court heard the man was driving his car with his partner in the passenger seat and their two young children in the back of the vehicle when he became involved in an argument with his partner about one of his previous partners.

In the course of the argument the man told the woman he would “bash your head in” and “smash the house up”, and drove the car erratically which caused the woman to become terrified they were going to crash, the court heard.

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The man’s lawyer told the court he had recently earned a two-year contract with a drilling company engaged with the NBN in the Rockhampton region, and was planning to live with his adult daughter to separate himself from his partner due to the problems they had experienced in the previous few months.

The magistrate gave the man a head sentence of nine months with immediate release on parole.