Cody Ross Casey viciously punches and strangles girlfriend in jealous fits of drunken rage

A man who viciously assaulted his girlfriend during a fit of jealous rage strangling her three times, before jumping on her car, has been labelled a coward by a judge

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A MAN who viciously assaulted his girlfriend during a fit of jealous rage strangling her three times, before jumping on her car, has been labelled a coward by a judge.

Cody Ross Casey, 23, was picked up by his girlfriend of three months from his mothers house in Charters Towers on the early hours of May 10, 2019.

The Townsville District Court heard the pair went back to a caravan in a back garden where Casey was living.

After the woman told Casey she had recently travelled to Ingham with a male friend, he told the woman to leave.

As the woman packed up her belongings Casey threw them out the caravan door into the back garden.

The court heard Casey then dragged the woman by the hair and punched her in the face three times.

The crown prosecutor said Casey then attacked the woman.

“She stumbled and fell and then the defendant climbed on top of her, sat on her stomach, placed both hands around her neck and squeezed so hard that she could not breathe and she blacked out,” she said.

“When she came to, the defendant was dragging her across the ground by her hair and when he realised she had woken up he sat on her stomach placed his hands around her neck and squeezed again.”

Cody Ross Casey was sentenced to three and a half years’ jail for strangulation.

The court heard the woman blacked out again and when she woke up Casey was punching her in the face which caused her to black out a third time.

The court heard when the woman regained consciousness, Casey was jumping up and down on the roof of her car.

As the woman tried to call for help, Casey knocked the phone out of her hand and strangled her a third time.

A victim impact statement written by the woman was read out by the crown prosecutor.

“Mentally I cannot trust any males as when I try to move on. It always brings back bad memories of being assaulted,” the woman wrote.

“I feel like I am messed up. I don’t sleep properly and I have trouble going to sleep.”

Casey pleaded guilty to a range of offences including three counts of strangulation and wilful damage.

He has spent 263 days in pre-sentence custody.

Defence barrister Edward Bassett said his client was intoxicated at the time of the “explosive” offence and suffered from depression.

“He has a reasonable prospect of getting over his psychological issues that led him to commit these offences,” he said.

“If that can be achieved, not only he but the entire community benefits.”

Judge Gregory Lynham said any man who committed a domestic violence offence was “cowardly”.

“It is clear (the woman) has suffered a number of ongoing consequences of your offending upon her in addition to the loss of self-confidence the offending has had on her,” he said.

“Unless you do something about your obvious drinking problems you are inevitably going to commit further offences.”

Casey was sentenced to three and a half years’ jail.

A parole eligibility date was set at May 10 this year.

Originally published as Cody Ross Casey viciously punches and strangles girlfriend in jealous fits of drunken rage