Deon Smith: Geelong man sentenced for ‘prolonged, irrational’ assault of woman carrying his child

A Geelong tradie has been sentenced in court for causing a woman pregnant with his child to be “terrified” she would be found dead and naked.

A judge has labelled a Geelong labourer’s beating and strangling of a six-week pregnant woman “prolonged, irrational brutality”.

The County Court heard on Thursday that in November 2021, Deon Smith was staying with a woman pregnant with his child and felt jealous when she returned home late one day.

The 31-year-old became violent and punched the woman’s head, body, and stomach, taking her by the throat several times until she lost consciousness and vomited.

Smith threatened to kill his victim and asked her how she wanted to die.

The woman was “terrified and begged for her life”, but was eventually able to run from the house completely naked to the safety of a neighbour’s home.

Later hospitalised, she required stitches to the bridge of her nose and lip and had swelling of the face, head, eye, and throat.

Smith texted her to apologise while she was in hospital.

The woman now suffers from grinding of the teeth, panic attacks, and flashbacks.

She also sleepwalks, goes to bed with weapons nearby, and has difficulty with intimacy.

In a statement read out during an earlier hearing, the woman said she had “never been more scared”.

“My biggest fear was that my family was going to find me dead and naked,” she said.

“I was convinced I would die that night.”

Although it was not suggested Smith’s actions caused the woman to lose her baby, Judge Michael Bourke said her subsequent miscarriage could be broadly considered part of her traumatic experience.

He called Smith’s behaviour “prolonged, irrational brutality”, but accepted he had had an early life of “deprivation and trauma”, his abusive father having introduced him to alcohol and cannabis when Smith was just 13.

Smith pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life, intentionally causing injury, making a threat to kill, assault, and false imprisonment.

He was sentenced to a total effective sentence of four years and nine months’ in prison, with a minimum term of two years and eight months.