Chandra Mohan Balya: Dubbo man charged over domestic violence assault

A Dubbo man has faced court after punching his wife multiple times in the head during an intoxicated outburst.

A Dubbo man who punched his wife in the head multiple times during an intoxicated outburst has narrowly escaped jail.

Chandra Mohan Balya, 44, was charged with common assault related to domestic violence and faced Dubbo Local Court yesterday to plead guilty to the attack in February.

Documents tendered to Dubbo Local Court reveal that Balya and his wife were coming home from a gathering when the two started arguing after stopping on Sheraton Road to look for directions.

“The victim does not normally drive and became confused about where she was,” police documents tendered to the court stated.

In the midst of the argument, a witness spotted Balya grabbing the victim by the shoulders and “forced her into the rear of a small black vehicle”.

The witness pulled over, watching Balya let go of the victim to “grab hold of the rear driver’s side door” where her leg could be seen hanging outside of the vehicle.

“The accused began to slam the rear driver’s side door into the victim’s ankle area,” agreed police facts state.

Chandra Mohan Balya appeared in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday, May 5. Picture: Aymon Bertah

A second witness could hear the victim “scream out, crying and yelling in an unknown language”, prompting a call to the police.

Balya then began punching the victim with a “closed fist” as well as grabbing the hair and pulling her head back and forth.

The second witness saw Balya once again “punch the victim in the face”.

Police arrived a short time later to find the victim noticeably upset although she continued to deny any accusations of assault. Officers noticed Balya was “clearly under the effect of intoxicating liquor” with “a strong smell of alcohol on his breath”.

When asked by police about the allegations, Balya replied “she is my wife”.

In sentencing the Dubbo man, Magistrate Greg Grogin lashed out at Balya’s response to police saying he appears to be treating his wife as a “possession”.

Mr Grogin sentenced Balya to a two-year community corrections order for the assault, where he must complete 300 hours of community service work and regularly report to a community corrections officer in Dubbo.

“You should be absolutely ashamed of your behaviour,” Mr Grogin said.

“Your wife is your partner, she should, of all people in the world, feel safe to be with you.”

Having been convicted in 2015 for drunk driving, Mr Grogin ordered that Balya must abstain from drinking alcohol for six months saying, “alcohol is obviously not a friend of yours”.

“I’m not going to send you to jail today (but) you are on the brink of jail,” Mr Grogan concluded.