Murgon court: Serial domestic violence offender walks free after breaching order more than a dozen times

A South Burnett man with more than a dozen convictions against his ex-partner has again avoided time behind bars, this time after an explosive rage that saw him trash the woman’s home with food she had brought home for him. Full details:

A serial domestic violence offender has again narrowly avoided jail time, this time after threatening his partner over a cigarette lighter and splattering food she’d bought him across her house.

The 35-year-old, who has 15 prior convictions against the woman, began hurling abuse at her before she even walked through the door of her Wondai home on February 17, accusing her of being out with another man.

The woman handed the man a bag of McDonald’s she’d bought for him and ignored his comments as she headed for her bedroom, police prosecutor Barry Stevens told Murgon Magistrates Court.

The man hurled the bag filled with fries and sweet and sour sauce down the hallway toward her, with the contents bursting over the woman’s walls and floor.

As she yelled at him to leave the house, the 35-year-old man broke a portable fan and then hid in the bathroom.

The woman called police and the man wandered outside, calling through the door for her to pass him a cigarette lighter.

Sergeant Stevens said the man became angry when she refused and threatened to damage her sister’s car.

The court heard the man was on two existing suspended jail sentences at the time of the offending.

“If you keep committing domestic violence offences I can, and the courts say I should, send you to jail for up to three years,” Magistrate Andrew Sinclair said.

“Or I could send you to the District Court where they’ll send you to jail for five years.

“You can’t run around smashing things, threatening to smash things, and throwing food.”

The man pleaded guilty to breaching his domestic violence order and was sentenced to three months’ jail.

His suspended sentences were also activated, leaving him with a total four-month jail sentence, but he walked free from court on immediate parole.