Convicted drug dealer Tyson Handsaker pleads guilty to raft of DV related charges

A convicted drug dealer has admitted to violently beating his partner, abusing her relentlessly and repeatedly breaching an AVO by calling her mother while in jail.

Tyson Handsaker pleaded guilty to a raft of domestic violence charges in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday. Supplied Amy Ziniak

A convicted drug dealer has admitted to viciously assaulting his partner and repeatedly ignoring apprehended violence orders by trying to contact her through a family member while in jail.

Farley man Tyson Handsaker, 31, - who was jailed in 2020 for drug supply - pleaded guilty to a raft of domestic violence related charges pertaining to a series of incidents from December 2023 to June last year.

Police facts detailed he had been in a relationship with a 27-year-old woman for about six years before it was revealed a first reported incident at Waratah was so severe it prompted a couple driving past to come to the woman’s aid.

Court documents state Handsaker and his girlfriend were walking along the footpath on Turton Rd on December 17, 2023, when he punched her in the face and she fell to the ground.

The bystanders stopped to help the distressed woman and offered her a lift home, but police facts state she declined before running off to the nearby Sunnyside Tavern.

Handsaker admitted to assaulting his partner and contravening several AVOs . Picture: istock

The police were called and arrived shortly after before Handsaker was arrested.

Court documents state he was searched and officers found methamphetamine and MDMA before he was taken to Waratah Police Station and charged.

In February last year, the couple were lying in bed before Handsaker showed the woman something on his phone and a picture of another woman popped up.

Police facts said after the woman questioned him and got upset, Handsaker became angry before he grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a wall.

Court documents state on several occasions the victim tried to cease contact with the 31-year-old, but he would always plead with her.

He would then threaten and verbally abuse her, calling her a “fu**en muppet, s**t” and “c**t” and say he was going to slap her, the documents state.

Police facts state on February 7 last year, he was arrested and taken into custody.

However, it did not stop Handsaker from repeatedly breaching an apprehended violence order (AVO) that was imposed to stop him from contacting the victim.

Between March and June while at Wellington Correctional Centre, Handsaker contacted the victim’s mother several times and another person in a bid to try and get in contact with the woman.

As a result of the constant breaches, he was again arrested while in custody on September 9.

In Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, Handsaker pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, a charge of stalk and intimidation, common assault, two counts of drug possession and seven counts of contravening an AVO.

Charges of common assault, intentionally choke a person without consent, stalk and intimidate and contravene an AVO were withdrawn.

His matter has been kicked to the District Court for a sentence date to be set next month.

Handsaker was jailed for six years with a non-parole period of three years and four months in June 2020 for drug supply and possession charges.