Domestic violence cases that have shocked Coffs Harbour
A wave of domestic violence cases have swept through Coffs court in recent months and statistics show regional areas are bearing the brunt of the crisis. See the cases that shocked the region.
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A wave of domestic violence cases have swept through Coffs Harbour Local Court in recent months.
While they make for some uncomfortable reading, it’s an issue that’s been swept under the carpet for far too long.
The number of apprehended domestic violence orders granted in local courts across the state show the situation is much worse in regional areas like Coffs Harbour.
We have crunched the numbers from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) on the rates of apprehended domestic violence orders granted over the years to create the following table.
It shows the disparity between rates of domestic violence in Sydney and in regional areas:
Drilling down by the regions, in 2021, there were 830 apprehended domestic violence orders granted in the Coffs Harbour - Grafton area; 1,219 granted in the Richmond-Tweed area; and 1,519 on the Mid North Coast.
In the Coffs Harbour - Grafton area for example this rate represents a rate of 125.8 per 100,000 population compared to a rate of 45.5 per 100,000 population in the Total Greater Sydney area.
CASES THAT HAVE SHOCKED THE COFFS COAST
Woman punched, threatened: ‘You’ve gotta drop the charge’
In early October this year, Woolgoolga man Sione Fangupo was sent to jail for domestic violence.
The 25-year-old will be eligible for release on January 12, 2023.
Police facts tendered to court document a litany of threats and repeated contact with the victim via phone calls, texts and Snapchat messages.
The facts stated she felt ‘on edge and is having trouble sleeping due to the accused’s constant harassment’.
In a screenshot of one message sent via Snapchat from his account ‘tongandoggie’, Fangupo said ‘you’ve gotta drop the charge or try to do something … I’m going to jail because of you’.
Another message said ‘so yeah, I’m going away with the boys, you can go and get f***** you c***’.
Despite the victim taking out an apprehended domestic violence order against Fangupo on December 1, 2021, he continued to make contact with her and, according to police facts, she felt she had no other choice but to remain in contact with him.
Then on the evening of December 23, 2021 at Woolgoolga, he assaulted her – punching her in the side of the head.
Police facts also outlined an incident on New Year’s Eve when the victim booked a room at a holiday park at Fangupo’s request as he had promised to return her laptop if she spent the evening with him.
Fangupo pleaded not guilty to common assault and contravening a prohibition or restriction in an apprehended domestic violence order but was convicted after a hearing and was sentenced in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday, September 27.
Man choked, dragged bakery partner off bed
In September, Coffs Harbour Local Court heard that the victim of a domestic violence attack was teaching her partner William Maclennan how to bake around the time he choked her and dragged her off a bed.
William Maclennan – who was “not known to the court in his 39 years”, according to his lawyer Kinlock Oliver – pleaded guilty to three domestic violence charges.
The 40-year-old was charged with intentionally choke etc person without consent (domestic violence); common assault (domestic violence); and stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (domestic).
He appeared before magistrate Michael Dakin for sentencing in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday, September 27.
The court heard the couple were running a successful local bakery business at the time of the attack on September 8 and that Maclennan was under stress and suffering sleep deprivation which his lawyer told the court was “a form of torture”.
Kicked victim while she was on the kitchen floor
A man who breached a protection order and assaulted his partner over several days, at one point kicking her as she lay on the kitchen floor.
Dayne Teece has now reconciled with his victim who sat in court to support him when he was sentenced in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday, October 18.
The charges relate to an incident which began on May 1 and occurred in the victim’s home over a number of days, it was heard when the matter last came before Magistrate Julia Virgo on September 6.
Ms Virgo had told the court the assault involved “kicking of the victim while she was on the kitchen floor, then the following day the further assault of pushing in the living room”.
Teece, 40, pleaded guilty to four charges: contravene prohibition/restriction in a domestic apprehended violence order; stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm (domestic); common assault (domestic violence) and destroy or damage property (domestic violence).
Lawyer Jesse Sinclair told the court his client had suffered abuse and trauma as a child but was seeking psychiatric help to help work through this.
Mr Sinclair said his “palpable disadvantage” should impact his sentencing because it “reduces his culpability”.
Mr Sinclair also told the court that Teece, who has never been in full-time custody before, had engaged with several programs including the Strong Aboriginal Men Program and had recently gained employment as a concrete renderer.
The court also heard that alcohol was a prime factor in his offending and that Teece was also seeking help to deal with this.
“It was a frightening incident for the victim and was a consequence of your abuse of alcohol,” Ms Virgo told Teece.
Man sentenced over ‘vile threats’ to kill ex-partner
An amicable phone call about co-parenting arrangements soon turned sour, ending in “vile threats” to kill, Coffs Harbour Local Court heard on September 27.
Magistrate Michael Dakin told the court these kinds of matters are regrettably “all too common”.
John Michael Webber was before the court charged with using a carriage service to threaten to kill; using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend; and contravene prohibition/restriction in an apprehended violence order (domestic).
Webber was undertaking the Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) program following the incidents in March this year, but was then hit by a car, leaving him in a coma.
He required six surgical operations in seven days and attended court in a wheelchair with his leg still heavily bandaged.
The 41-year-old had been in an eight-year relationship with the victim but they were separated at the time of the offences and it was during a phone call about parenting arrangements on March 9 when the “vile” threat to kill was made.
‘Disgusted, sick’: Man sent intimate sexual images of ex to others
A man who sent intimate images and videos of his ex-partner to three other men narrowly avoided jail time.
The Moonee Beach man was before magistrate Julia Virgo in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday, September 13, facing several charges in relation to a series of messages sent on the evening of August 14.
According to police documents, the 42-year-old had been in a relationship with the victim for approximately 18 months and during that time they had exchanged intimate photos and videos but at no point did she consent to them being shared with others.
Throughout their time together, when the couple were fighting, he threatened to send the images and videos to other people, the documents outlined.
They separated in July and it was a month later that the incidents occurred.
Police facts state the images and videos were sent with accompanying messages calling her a ‘slut’ and saying ‘give her a call’ with a winky face emoji and passing on her number.
The three recipients all contacted the victim to let her know what had happened and were witnesses in the police investigation, facts tendered to the court outlined.
Police facts stated she felt ‘disgusted, sick and mortified’ and was concerned she could lose her livelihood and that when she contacted her ex partner about the matter he replied ‘I’m sorry I was drunk and angry last night’.
The court heard the accused entered an early guilty plea to three charges of intentionally distribute an image without consent (domestic violence) when he appeared voluntarily at the Coffs Harbour Police Station in relation to the matter on August 17.
His lawyer told the court the images were sent over a “discreet period of time” and that there were no “rogue” images on the internet.
To this, Ms Virgo responded “I cannot accept that”.
‘She didn’t say no’: Man denies shocking Snapchat rape lure claims
A man is on trial after he allegedly messaged a teenager on Snapchat before he lured her to his brother’s flat under false pretenses and sexually assaulted her. He claims “she didn’t say no once”.
Company stung after breaching fire ants protocol
A Queensland landscaping supply company has been fined after delivering up to 152 loads of potentially deadly fire ant carrying material across the border to NSW - including to two schools.