Serial domestic violence offender strangles, suffocates girlfriend multiple times in hours-long assault

‘You’re gone for good now’: The Warwick court heard the serial DV offender choked his 20yo victim with extension cords, tried to smother her with a pillow, and threatened to stab her during the terrifying night-long assault.

A serial domestic violence offender who suffocated, choked, and threatened to stab his former girlfriend in a terrifying hours-long assault has been released on immediate parole in the Warwick court.

The 30-year-old’s violence towards his 20-year-old partner began on September 13, 2019, about two months into their relationship.

Crown prosecutor Zachary Kaplan told the Warwick District Court the couple were staying at a friend’s house when the man, who cannot be named, flew into a jealous rage over Snapchat messages the woman received.

“(He) smashed the complainant’s laptop and doused her car in petrol, and had to be stopped by another person from setting that car ablaze,” Mr Kaplan said.

The Warwick court heard the couple broke up but soon reconnected, and were then living together with a police protection order against the man at the time of the second and more horrifying assault in October, 2019.

Mr Kaplan said an argument escalated into extreme violence one evening, with the man smashing a door frame with a hammer and screaming at the woman before biting her and taking her phone so she couldn’t call the police.

The man pleaded guilty to the shocking violence in the Warwick District Court. Picture: file / NRM

He said the man then tried twice to smother the woman with a pillow, choked her with two extension cords until she almost lost consciousness, and doused her in cold water before smashing a handheld mirror on the back of her head.

“He followed her to the couch where he ended up being armed with a knife, which he held to her throat. He held her down and gagged her with socks ... he swung (the knife) towards her body and stomped on her face, causing bruising to her eye,” Mr Kaplan said.

“He repeatedly threatened to commit suicide if she left him … (and) used words to the effect of, ‘You’re gone for good now’.”

The woman was finally able to make her escape the next morning after sending a text message to her mother, who called the police.

The victim watched the proceedings from the courtroom gallery with her mother by her side, and a victim impact statement submitted to the court described her emotional trauma and its ongoing impact on her daily life.

Her attacker appeared in the Warwick court with an extensive and violent criminal history including assault, robbery, drug crimes, and domestic violence.

The Warwick court heard the 20-year-old victim still suffers from extreme emotional trauma as a result of the terrifying ordeal. Picture: Geoff Potter / NRM

He was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail with a non-parole period of one year and seven months for prior offending in NSW in 2019, but was released on appeal bail months before this offending.

The man has been in custody in Queensland since his arrest in November, 2019.

He was supported by his parents in court, who travelled from Tamworth for the sentence.

Defence barrister David Jones said his client was a promising student and campdrafter in his youth, but fell into heavy drug addiction and crime when he entered the workforce at 18.

“His offending while under the use of illicit substances is not out of character. His parents say when they see their son sober … he’s a completely different person,” Mr Jones said.

“He wants to work somewhere on a station, where it’s secluded so he can’t get his hands on (drugs).”

Judge Dennis Lynch sentenced the man to four years’ jail with immediate release on parole, citing time spent in pre-sentence custody and the expectation the 30-year-old would return to NSW to serve part of his 2019 sentence.

“(Your victim) suffered pain and injury, and was in fear that this was going to be the end of her life, all because of your inability to deal with your own feelings of inadequacy or rejection,” Judge Lynch said.

The man pleaded guilty to two counts of suffocation in a domestic setting and one count each of strangulation in a domestic setting and assault occasioning bodily harm while armed.

He pleaded guilty to a further four counts of common assault, three counts of wilful damage, and one count each of attempted arson and contravening a police protection order.