Dubbo domestic violence: Most shocking cases revealed
A cricket bat attack, shocking strangulation and brutal public beatings are among the most shocking incidents of domestic violence which have outraged country communities.
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Domestic violence is rife in the state’s central west, with Western NSW having the highest rate of domestic violence-related assaults with bush towns recording more assaults than more densely-populated areas like Newcastle, the Illawarra and the Mid North Coast.
According to the latest Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data, the DV assault rate in the Far West and Orana regions of NSW was more than double (3.5 per 100,000 population) the rate for the entire state (1 per 100,000).
In 2020, there were 1616 DV assaults recorded in the Far West and Orana regions, compared to 1450 in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area, 961 in the Illawarra and 1156 on the Mid North Coast.
The shameful statistics are numbers on a page, but behind them are very real and shocking stories of disgraceful domestic violence and traumatised victims.
Thanks to good police work and the bravery of survivors, those stories come out in court.
These are some of the most disturbing domestic violence offences committed in western NSW.
CHRIS FINLAY
A terrified woman had to pretend she was dead in an attempt to stop Dubbo man Chris Finlay, 30, from continuing a horrific attack on her on August 29 last year.
In court documents, police said that despite the woman playing dead, Finlay picked her up off the ground and grabbed her by the hair.
Before she managed to approach a stranger on the street for help, Finlay had bit the woman’s eyebrow, choked her and pushed her into the side mirror of a vehicle.
He’d been drinking all night at the Coachman’s Hotel in Parkes and started fighting with the woman because he was frustrated members of her family were not ready to leave the venue.
After the attack, the woman had Finlay’s teeth marks ingrained on her face and she was left covered in bruises with swelling all over her body.
Finlay was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and sentenced to a 14-month jail term in October, however he successfully appealed the severity of the sentence in November.
Instead of serving his time behind bars, Finlay was allowed to serve the term of imprisonment in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.
MARK KILPATRICK
A woman had to frantically message her friend when she feared Mark Kilpatrick, 22, would kill her February 19 last year.
According to court documents, the Marrickville man punched his ex-girlfriend in the face after the pair started arguing at a friends house in Dubbo.
“Shut your f****** mouth”, Kilpatrick told the woman as he covered her face during the savage attack.
After being told she would be buried, the woman locked herself in a car which Kilpatrick later forced himself into.
“I need help, Mark’s going to f****** kill me,” the woman wrote in an SMS to her friend after she got out of the car.
When Kilpatrick saw the woman on the phone, he tackled her to the ground and left her choking and gagging as he put his forearm on her neck and took the phone.
As the woman sat on the ground crying, Kilpatrick drove the car up and down the street and screamed “get the f*** up and get in the car”.
After stopping, court documents state Kilpatrick forced the woman into the car and drove around Dubbo doing up to 130km/h while threatening to slit her throat and kill her.
When Kilpatrick eventually stopped the car, he pulled the woman out and told her to walk to her home.
Noting Kilpatrick’s good record and diagnosis of methamphetamine use-disorder, Magistrate Theresa Hamilton convicted him of intimidation, an AVO breach and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle with a person in.
He was sentenced to an 18-month prison term, to be served in the community through an intensive corrections order, and 150 hours of community service work.
GAVIN WELDON
A member of the public helped ensure Riverstone man Gavin Weldon, 38, never got away with an appalling attack on a woman in Dubbo two days after he got out of jail.
In court documents police said Weldon hit the woman with a cricket bat last year, after the pair had an argument in her loungeroom.
When the woman tried to call for help Weldon took her phone and said “I’ll kill you, you slut”.
Weldon followed the woman after she left the house and police said he grabbed a handful of her hair and “marched her across the road in front of oncoming traffic”.
The woman was also punched three times in the face by Weldon and dragged from the road by her hair.
On a nearby vacant block of land, Weldon threw the woman to the ground and punched her in the head and torso.
After a concerned community member reported Weldon to police, he was arrested a short time later and seen throwing a kitchen knife into a neighbour’s yard.
“No assault happened, we were just arguing,” Weldon told police.
Weldon was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intimidation and AVO breach charges.
He was sentenced to two years and three months in jail.
DARREN BILES
After injecting ice in front of his partner, Brewarrina man Darren Biles started to accuse her of sleeping with other men and said “I’ll break your jaw again”.
In court documents police said Biles, 24, later dragged the woman along a Narromine street in October last year and repeatedly kicked her while she was down.
“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you c***,” he said to the woman.
Attempts by neighbours, to stop his frenzied attack failed and Biles picked up the top of a glass bottle and began to strike the woman’s neck with the glass.
“I’ll slash your throat,” he said.
After police arrived Biles pressured the woman into saying she rolled her ankle and he was trying to help, however officers later observed Biles continuing to threaten the woman with the glass bottle.
When police arrested Biles, he was later admitted to a mental health unit which he absconded from after four days.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that police were able to arrest him in Narromine.
Magistrate Philip Stewart told Dubbo Local Court Biles had previously been convicted of multiple domestic violence related assaults, affray, reckless wounding and AVO breaches.
Biles was convicted of further assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intimidation and AVO breach offences.
He was sentenced to one year, eight months and 23 days in jail.
STEPHEN BELL
The former partner of Dubbo man Stephen Bell, 34, was left with broken bones and in need of surgery after he attacked her in the middle of the Newell Highway on December 8 last year.
According to court documents, the pair drove to a reserve about five kilometres north of Dubbo and the woman got out of the car and ran onto the highway.
Bell later got out of the car and punched the woman.
After she fell back onto the car, Bell threw more punches and kicked the woman’s body and head.
When police arrived the woman was crying uncontrollably, vomiting and trying to stop blood pouring out of her nose.
Police said she had to be treated at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for multiple breaks to part of her skull.
Because Bell left the scene of the attack, police had to go to his home to arrest him the next day.
When officers arrived he was found hiding in the corner of the backyard.
Bell was convicted of reckless grievous bodily harm and sentenced to 16 months in jail. He will be eligible for parole in August.
DARRYL BILES
The blood of 18-year-old Maleeta Hart was found spattered on every wall of the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend after he killed her in Brewarrina in 2015.
In a Supreme Court judgment handed down by Justice Des Fagan, it was revealed Biles repeatedly punched Ms Hart in the head and broke her jaw before police found her dead body covered up with a doona and hoodie.
“The assault simply followed a reflex which had become part of the offender’s relationship with Ms Hart, whereby disagreements with her or feelings of dissatisfaction towards her were routinely resolved with violence,” Justice Fagan said.
“Maleeta Hart was only five months past her 18th birthday, barely more than a child, when she was killed. The offender’s brutal attack has denied her the whole of her potential adult years.”
A jury found Biles guilty of Ms Hart’s murder and he failed in his bid to have the conviction overturned.
He was jailed for 24 years and will be eligible for parole in 2034.
MATHEW GILBERT
After an argument about whether or not to go the pub, Wellington man Mathew Gilbert grabbed his partner’s throat and began to throw her around in her own home in November 2019.
In court documents, police said Gilbert later grabbed the woman’s arm, pushed her to the ground and set a pair of shorts on fire.
“You want me to burn your house down while you and the kids are in it,” he said to the woman before he put the fire out and went to the pub.
Hours later Gilbert was drunk when he called the woman and asked to be picked up from the pub.
She complied and when the pair got back home, Gilbert accused her of lying about where a packet of cigarettes were. He also smashed the woman’s phone and left her unable to contact police.
“I’m gonna come back here and burn the house down and burn the car out,” Gilbert told the woman.
He was convicted of choking a person without their consent, common assault and a string of other offences.
Gilbert was handed his first jail sentence and sentenced to six months in jail.
STUART WALSH
After taking offence to a comment his partner allegedly made on October 18 last year, Dubbo man Stuart Walsh picked up a bottle opener and struck her eyebrow.
In court documents police said after the woman’s eyebrow started to bleed, Walsh, 27, grabbed her hair and pushed her against a wall.
When the woman tried to get away from Walsh and wash the blood off her eyebrow, police said Walsh demanded she apologise for the alleged remarks she made.
After the woman attempted to apologise, Walsh grabbed her by the hair again and she locked herself inside a house and waited for police to arrive.
In court Walsh was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
He was sentenced to two 18-month community corrections orders.
> National domestic violence counselling — 1800 737 732
> Lifeline – 13 11 14
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