Mitchell Anthony Ralston: Biggera Waters DV thug jailed for choking, punching partner

A Gold Coast man who previously hospitalised a cab driver has been jailed for battering his de facto partner after she tried to stay at her sister’s in response to him soiling their bed.

Mitchell Anthony Ralston (right) leaves Southport Court with his lawyer Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Lawyers during his 2021 cabbie bashing matter. Picture: Lea Emery

An intoxicated Gold Coast thug choked and bashed his de facto partner after she had the gall to suggest she would stay at her sister’s place after he vomited and urinated on their bed, a court has heard.

Biggera Waters tradie Mitchell Anthony Ralston, 39, a high-pressure cleaner who owned his own business, appeared in Southport District Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to a four-count indictment, which included charges of assault occasioning bodily harm, strangulation, common assault and wilful damage.

The offences were all committed on the evening of June 15 last year at the residence Ralston shared with his partner and their infant child.

The defendant’s partner went out for the day with her sister, returning to find Ralston blind drunk after a day spent boozing with friends, and a matrimonial bed covered in his puke and urine, the court heard.

She began packing her things to go stay the night at her sister’s, to which Ralston exploded with rage.

Biggera Waters man Mitchell Anthony Ralston, 39. Picture: Facebook

He grabbed her around the neck, suspending her against a wall before dragging her to the kitchen and taking her to the ground, where he continued to choke her.

After she got to her feet, Ralston punched his partner in the head before covering her mouth to stifle her screams.

The woman was able to escape with her infant daughter and called police, who arrived to find Ralston argumentative and difficult, but he calmed down once they produced a taser, the court heard.

Ralston initially denied assaulting the woman, telling officers she was the one who had flown into a rage and indicating his internal CCTV would corroborate his version of events, but the footage in fact did the opposite.

He has been remanded in pre-sentence custody since the offence date, a total of 242 days.

The court heard Ralston had a six-page Queensland criminal history and had committed domestic violence offences against two previous women.

Mitchell Anthony Ralston (right) leaves Southport Court with his lawyer Michael Gatenby, of Gatenby Criminal Lawyers during his 2021 cabbie bashing matter.. Picture: Lea Emery

More recently, he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole after hospitalising a cab driver on January 6, 2021, in a daylight attack at Broadbeach.

Defence counsel Nick McGhee told the court his client had had a longstanding problem with alcohol – exacerbated by the tragic 2021 death of his 12-month-old daughter due to a genetic lung condition – and was “heavily intoxicated” when he choked and assaulted his partner.

He told the court his client had undertaken multiple rehabilitative programs while on remand – including a course known as Doing Time With Jesus – and submitted the gaps in his criminal history illustrated his client could be a productive member of society when his drinking was kept in check.

Judge Terry Gardiner sentenced Ralston to three years’ imprisonment with court-ordered parole after 12 months had elapsed.