Daniel Scott, 33, pleads guilty to injuring, assaulting and strangling woman

A man who spent a night torturing a woman in his home with a cigarette, a syringe and a box cutter claimed he didn’t “hit females”, a court has heard.

Daniel Scott. Picture: Facebook

A County Court judge has said a man who falsely imprisoned and assaulted a woman in his home displayed an attitude of “textbook male violence”.

Daniel Scott, 33, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Wednesday via videolink from prison, and pleaded guilty to seven charges, two counts of intentionally causing injury and single counts of common law assault, reckless conduct endangering life, false imprisonment, making threats to kill and threatening to inflict serious injury, all against the same victim.

Crown prosecutor Nicholas Batten told the court Scott assaulted, hit, punched and headbutted the woman, also subjecting her to verbal abuse, across several days in a months-long period in 2023.

In one incident, after hitting his victim and leaving her in tears, Scott strangled her, telling her to “shut the f--k up” and asking “why do you make me do it?”.

The victim lost consciousness, and when she woke he strangled her again; she was left with red marks and scratches around her neck.

Throughout the ordeal she tried to get Scott to stop, but “every time she made a noise he would dig his fingers into her neck”, Mr Batten told the court.

In a separate incident, the victim was walking along a Corio street when Scott grabbed her by the neck and marched her into his home, saying: “walk c--t walk or I’m gonna kill ya” and threatening to kill one of her family members.

From 11pm that night, Scott held the woman captive, at points punching and kicking her. He also put a cigarette out on her leg.

When the victim began to cry, Scott said “do you want something to cry about?” and slashed her other leg with a box cutter.

At one point, he held an uncapped syringe and threatened to stab her in the eye with it.

The court heard he used the victim’s phone to text her mother, then became emotional.

“I don’t hit females, there’s been a couple in the past I’ve had to deck, but you’re the only female I’ve wanted to have their brains splattered on my walls,” he told her.

The woman was able to escape when Scott fell asleep at about 7am.

In an impact statement Mr Batten read to the court, the victim said Scott’s actions had left her in “fragments”; he “took (her) faith and love and shattered it”.

She said she struggled with trusting men and making friends and became “literally scared of my own shadow”.

“For me, trauma is something that eats at me 24/7,” she said, outlining how Scott had made her feel worthless, how his abuse lingered as a voice in her head, and how she’d become self-sabotaging and turned to drugs to cope.

Of feeling numb, she wrote: “The lights were on, but nobody’s home.”

Scott’s lawyer, barrister Natasha Freijah, conceded the offending was serious, describing it as “nasty” and acknowledging the profound effect on the victim.

His defence relied on a number of factors put forward by Ms Freijah, including his upbringing, drug use and mental health issues.

“This offending ought to be viewed through the lens of all of those factors,” Ms Freijah said.

During the plea hearing, Judge Gerard Mullaly asked questions around what evidence supported Scott’s claims of a deprived upbringing and diagnoses of PTSD, anxiety, ADHD and depression - other than what he self-reported to a psychologist.

Ms Freijah said Scott was remorseful and had since said it was not acceptable or appropriate to assualt a woman.

Judge Mullaly said he’d have to balance that against Scott’s attitude of victim-blaming and “textbook male violence” during the offending.

“It’s a very long way (Scott’s perspective) has to come,” he said.

Ms Freijah said Scott’s latest comments came now he was “in a far better place, to be able to think clearly and rationally”.

Scott, who has spent just under 600 days behind bars, will face court again on August 13.

Originally published as Daniel Scott, 33, pleads guilty to injuring, assaulting and strangling woman