Hammers to the head, drills to the knees: Logan man Matthew John Hill’s alleged house of horrors

NAMED: Police allege a Logan man who threatened to ‘sever’ his girlfriend’s spinal cord and called himself the ‘Exterminator’ tormented her over several terrifying months. WARNING: DISTRESSING.

A man who allegedly turned his Logan home into a violent house of horrors, where police allege he sprayed the word ‘slut’ over the walls, hit his girlfriend and himself with a hammer and threatened to drill in her kneecaps has been denied bail.

Matthew John Hill, from Slacks Creek, appeared via video link from prison at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court for a bail application hearing on Wednesday.

Hill stands accused of 15 offences, including 11 counts of common assault, one count of unlawful stalking and two counts of wilful damage during the course of his relationship with the alleged victim.

Hill appeared via video link at the Beenleigh Courthouse on Wednesday.

According to civilian prosecutor Zoe Melksham, Hill allegedly tormented his ex-girlfriend for the duration of the relationship from September to November 2020.

The court heard the first alleged incident of domestic violence occurred one week into the relationship, when Hill realised the woman had received several text messages from her former partner.

“The defendant paced around the room, ranting and raving, calling (the woman) a ‘scum dog, a lying dog’,” said Ms Melksham.

Hill then allegedly kicked the woman in the back with such force she fell forward into the wall, leaving a hole in the drywall.

The woman said the man threatened to cave her head in with two hammers and drill her knee caps in.

As the woman lay there crying, Hill is accused of going to the garage and returning with two hammers, the court heard.

He allegedly said, “I’m going to end you, c***,” then swung one towards the woman, allegedly striking her in the ear with the wooden handle.

The court heard Hill told the woman, “the only way I’m not going to cave your head in, is if I cave my head in”, and proceeded to start hitting himself in the head, causing him to bleed profusely over a bed.

The woman told police she tried to escape the man by running into the backyard, but he allegedly followed her with two cordless drills.

“I’m going to drill your f***ing kneecaps out,” he allegedly said, according to Ms Melksham.

Police allege that what followed was several months of violence, in which police claim Hill spray painted the walls with the word ‘slut’, cut up all the woman’s shorts, isolated the woman from her friends and family and threatened prospective customers of her cleaning business.

The woman finally left the relationship on November 26, after which time she received a handwritten letter that was tendered to the court.

In the letter Hill called himself the “Exterminator” and threatened to “get her left hand cut off and shoved up (her) a***” and “snap (her) vertebrae and sever (her) spinal cord”.

The horrific messages allegedly continued over texts and Facebook messages tendered to the court.

Defence lawyer Andrew Palombo of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service told the court his client admitted to writing the letter, but said it was meant as “some sort of diary” that wasn’t meant to be read by the woman.

Mr Palombo said Hill had been working for a relative at a landscaping and construction business prior to his arrest, and was told he could obtain further employment there upon his release.

Hill intends to contest all of the charges at the Beenleigh District Court.

The Magistrate noted Hill had a lengthy criminal history of violence, including threatening violence of firearms, unlawful possession of weapons and knives in public places.

Given that history, in addition to Hill’s history of breaching bail and failing to appear at court, the Magistrate deemed him an unacceptable risk of offending and refused his bail.

Hill became enraged, stood up, and began to protest during the magistrate’s decision.

The court muted him.

*For 24-hour support phone Queensland’s DVConnect on 1800 811 811 or MensLine on 1800 600 636, NSW’s Domestic Violence Line on 1800 656 463 or the national hotline 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).