Cameron Cohen sentenced at Macksville court for assault and stalking

Man sentenced for assault that left a trail of blood from a lounge room and down the street to where the victim called out to neighbours who were threatened with further violence.

Macksville man Cameron Cohen was sentenced in relation to a domestic violence incident that left the victim trailing blood from the loungeroom of her home and down the street; where she called on neighbours for help.

Cohen appeared in Macksville local court on Thursday to face seven charges in relation to the incident in Macksville on the night of October 7 last year.

The 31-year-old appeared before Magistrate David O‘Neil and told him he had not drunk alcohol since the night of the incident.

“That’s good and that’s why I am not sending you to prison,” Mr O’Neil said.

His lawyer told the court Cohen had pursued counselling and was being proactive about addressing his issues with alcohol.

Cohen had previously worked in a macadamia farm and was expected to start work on the Coffs Harbour bypass in two weeks, the court heard.

Mr O’Neil did not go into the details of the sequence of events on the evening of October 7 other than to describe them as “disturbing” and “frightening to members of the community”.

According to documents tendered to the court, Cohen was mourning the loss of a relative and was at home drinking alcohol with a friend.

At one point in the evening Cohen’s partner returned to the house and they argued over what was referred to in police facts as an ‘adulterous scene’ involving the friend earlier in the evening.

It turned into an argument and according to court documents his partner punched him and when she tried to hit him a second time he punched her in the nose and she left the lounge room trailing blood out the door and down to the street to a neighbour’s house.

Several neighbours tried to assist the victim but according to the police facts they were intimidated. At one point Cohen said to one of the neighbours: “Give me the cameras, you better not be recording this, or call the cops, or I’ll bomb your house and kill you.”

He pushed another female neighbour trying to help the victim and said: “don’t, I’ll stab you”.

Court documents also indicate he was ‘grabbing his pockets’ making the neighbours fear he was carrying a knife.

When paramedics arrived the victim was bleeding from both nostrils and vomiting blood.

On the morning of Sunday October 10 Cohen attended Macksville Police Station and he was arrested and charged.

He was charged with: assault occasioning actual bodily harm; four separate charges of stalk and intimidate; and two charges of common assault.

He was convicted of all charges and has been placed on a six-month Intensive Correction Order and directed to abstain from alcohol for that time; given an additional 18-month Community Corrections Order and ordered to complete 72 hours of community service; and fined a total of $1,500 for the two charges of common assault and two stalk and intimidate charges.