Townsville District Court: North Queensland FIFO worker jailed for attempted rape of partner

A FIFO worker has been jailed and a woman said she has been left ‘shattered’ after her partner of eight years sexually assaulted her. Warning: distressing.

Townsville District Court: North Queensland FIFO worker jailed for attempted rape of partner. Picture: generic

A “dreadful” way to end an eight-year relationship, is how a judge described the details of a man’s disgusting offences before he was jailed for the attempted rape of his partner.

The 49-year-old man who can’t be named to protect the identity of his ex, appeared in Townsville District Court on Wednesday morning, with the woman he committed the shocking offences against sitting at the back “shattered”.

Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard said in October 2021 the couple had an argument which resulted in the man verbally abusing the woman in public, and led to her ultimately sleeping in the spare bedroom from then on.

In the early hours of October 21 the man entered the spare room, the crown said.

“He told her he was there to have sex and she told him no, he grabbed her legs and pulled himself closer to her,” Ms Sheppard said.

“She fought him off her and again told him to stop. He tried to climb on top of her.”

The court was told there was a couple of minutes of struggling between the pair before he stopped and walked away.

“He came into the room again and offered her coffee, half an hour later he returned to the bedroom entirely naked demanding sex,” the crown said.

“He stood over her, grabbed her by the hips and dragged her onto her back.

“She pleaded with him to stop.”

‘Go on, call the police’

Ms Sheppard said the woman had been fully clothed during the assault and when he failed to unbutton her pants he tried to force her into performing oral sex, and said “it’s going to go somewhere”.

The court was told he also challenged the woman to call authorities, telling her, “go on, yell” and “go on call the police”.

The man eventually stopped when the woman started to cry as he stepped on her foot which he knew she suffered a medical condition to and she ran for help, calling the police and the domestic violence helpline, the prosecutor said.

Ms Sheppard said the woman submitted a victim impact statement which outlined how she felt “shattered”, now suffered from “anxiety and depression” and felt a “sense of powerlessness”.

Defence barrister Molly Mahlouzarides instructed by Legal Aid Queensland said the man who had been working in a FIFO job was exposed to domestic violence has a child at the hands of his parents.

She also highlighted the man’s health complications in the lead up to the sentence, having been diagnosed with cancer and needing to undergo surgery.

Judge John Coker acknowledged the “degree of force” that had been used during the assault as photos of the woman’s body with bruising to it had been submitted.

“It’s bewildering that a relationship after eight years should end in such a dreadful way,” he said.

“It’s important a victim’s voice is heard.”

The man pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with attempted rape and one count of sexual assault.

He was sentenced to four and a half years jail, suspended after serving 15 months for an operational period of five years.

Originally published as Townsville District Court: North Queensland FIFO worker jailed for attempted rape of partner