‘I have your woman’: Dad loses it over fiery text

A father has narrowly avoided jail after he “flogged” his ex partner’s new boyfriend.

Generic of a hand holding an iPhone, or mobile phone.

A FATHER has narrowly avoided jail after he "flogged" his ex partner's new boyfriend.

A court was told Patrick John King, 45, received "highly inflammatory" text messages from his ex partner's phone, which were authored by her new boyfriend.

Prosecutor Tegan Smith said King was told the boyfriend was parked outside a Birtinya property before he made his way outside to confront him on March 28 last year.

"In terms of the assault it is aggressive and it is vicious," Ms Smith said.

"In my submission, it wasn't spur of the moment in essence that there was any conversation and an assault has taken place.

"The defendant has actually had to go down the stairs, across the road and then assault the victim in the manner, which he did, which included attempting to pull him, the victim, from the vehicle, punching him five or six times.

"The victim was at a disadvantage in that he was in the car with his seatbelt on, which limited his ability to defend himself in such an attack."

No victim impact statement was provided to the court however Ms Smith said he suffered bruising and swelling to the forehead, a cut above the eyebrow and swelling on his hand and forearm.

At Maroochydore Magistrates Court today, King pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

The court heard he was on a suspended sentence at the time of the offence.

Defence barrister Nathan Turner said a psychiatrist had diagnosed King with a major depressive order between November 2018 and August 2019.

King was prescribed antidepressants and an antipsychotic mood stabiliser during the time he was seen by the psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist's report said it was likely King was impaired in his capacity to control his actions at the time of the offence.

The court was told the proceedings were delayed due to concerns about King's fitness and capacity to plea at an earlier date.

"He now is on no medication," Mr Turner said.

Mr Turner said King previously worked in the oil and gas industry but accepted a redundancy in December.

An affidavit provided by King's ex partner describes text messages her new boyfriend sent to King from her phone leading up to the assault.

Magistrate Haydn Stjernqvist said the messages were "highly inflammatory" and dictated when King could see his three children, demanded money and threatened violence.

"Text messages stating words to the effect of 'I have your woman, I have your kids, I have everything you ever had'," Mr Stjernqvist said.

Mr Stjernqvist said King had been talking to his ex partner about "property issues".

"I don't how you transcend from that discussion to marching straight out of the house, across the road to (the victim) in the car with a seatbelt on and flogging him, basically," he said.

Mr Stjernqvist said King would struggle to provide for his family if he was sent to jail.

King was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison with immediate parole.

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