Warwick woman, 28, narrowly avoids jail after violently assaulting ex-partner

The 28-year-old woman who unleashed a violent rage on her victim twice in only hours has claimed she ‘just went off’ when she was accused of infidelity and then caught the man trying to sneak out the next morning.

A Warwick mum who violently assaulted her ex-partner twice in only a few hours has narrowly avoided a stint behind bars.

Warwick Magistrates Court heard a heated dispute first broke out between the 28-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and her partner on the afternoon of June 24 when the man questioned the woman’s fidelity.

The verbal argument quickly escalated into violence, with the Warwick woman slapping and punching the man’s body.

It was only the next morning that conflict again arose between the pair, this time after the mother of two woke up and caught the man trying to leave their Warwick home without alerting her or her children.

The woman again flew into a violent rage and struck the man on his head and face, with her victim reporting both assaults to police two days later.

The court was told the woman knew she was required under the domestic violence order to be of good behaviour towards her now ex-partner, but on both occasions lost her temper and “just went off”.

Defence lawyer Clare Hine said the woman’s four-year relationship with her victim was coming to an end prior to the offending, as her brother’s recent sudden death and the pair’s struggle with drug addiction had been putting increasing strain on their household.

“What happened was she made the decision that she was going to stop using (marijuana), but he was finding it a little bit more difficult to do that, and that put a lot of strain on them,” she said.

“She became very concerned that perhaps his drug use might affect her.”

Ms Hine said the Warwick woman described the man as “a very good partner” and “very kind man”, especially towards her children who saw him as a father figure.

“The issue was not so much that he was leaving, but the way he was leaving - he was going to try and leave at night or sneak out early in the morning and just not talk to the kids about it, which she thought was quite cruel given how much those children had come to love him,” she said.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess acknowledged the mother’s personal circumstances and that this was her first time in court for domestic violence offending, but said her previous convictions for affray and assault showed a clear pattern of violent behaviour.

“You’ve obviously had some drug issues over the years and you’ve admitted to the police that you’ve had some anger issues, and as I said, you’ve spent the last few years supervised on probation,” she said.

“I’m also told you’ve been a victim of domestic violence yourself, which might explain the manner in which you reacted to being queried about your infidelity.”

The Warwick woman pleaded guilty to two counts of contravening a domestic violence order.

She was sentenced to three months’ jail, wholly suspended for nine months.