Trent Monsell: Logan man who severely beat partner escapes jail time

A District Court judge has allowed a man who told his partner he hoped she died as he choked her in a street south of Brisbane to walk free without serving any actual prison time.

A convicted abuser, who severely beat and choked his partner in a Logan street, was been permitted to walk free without serving actual prison time at Beenleigh District Court on Monday.

Logan man Trent Monsell, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of choking within a domestic violence relationship for an incident that occurred in Crestmead on March 18, 2020.

The court heard Monsell had been drinking for about five hours at his local pub when the mother of his two young children called, asked where he was, and called him a “piece of s***” for staying out so long.

At around 1am the woman heard Monsell wandering back towards their home and whistling, so she walked outside to greet him.

Trent Monsell pleaded guilty to choking and beating his then-partner in an alcohol-fuelled rage.

According to crown prosecutor Dave Rigby, when Monsell saw his partner he ripped his shirt off and told her, “Follow me, I’m going to take you in the bush and kill you”.

Monsell then began attacking the woman, punching her in the head and face, and used her hair to pull her to the ground when she tried to fight back.

He called her a slut and a whore, then sat on her back and put his hands around her throat, squeezing until she couldn’t breathe.

The court heard the woman tried to apologise and pleaded with him to stop.

When she told Monsell she couldn’t breathe he said, “I don’t give a f***, I hope you die, slut”.

She ultimately escaped by running inside a nearby home and asking its occupants to call the police.

The attack left the woman with significant bruising and swelling to her eyes and nose, with superficial changes to the colour of her neck.

According to the defence counsel, Monsell did not usually consume alcohol and had become so intoxicated he “acted out of character” and could not remember the event the following day.

Monsell was arrested on March 22 and told police he was sorry for what he had done.

He was held on remand for one day.

The couple have since separated, but the court heard Monsell continued to have a “working relationship” with the woman for the purposes of co-parenting their children.

Mr Rigby told the court the victim later withdrew her complaint to police and informed them she would not co-operate in any legal proceedings.

Judge Rowan Jackson said Monsell’s guilty plea was therefore “quite exceptional”.

“His level of facilitating the course of justice is quite extraordinary,” Judge Jackson said.

“I cannot see the benefit for (Monsell’s) rehabilitation or for the community more generally to send (Monsell) to actual imprisonment.”

The court heard the charges carried a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and Mr Rigby submitted for Monsell to be sentenced to three years imprisonment, of which he would serve a third.

Given the “very unusual circumstances of this case”, Judge Jackson sentenced Monsell to two years imprisonment with immediate parole release.