‘I’ll just cut your finger off’: Mark Koeble avoids jail for bashing woman
He was a former Brighton private schoolboy with a successful gardening business, but when it went bust he fell into a life of drugs and crime. Now he’s faced court for savagely attacking a woman he met on a dating website and had sex with in exchange for ice.
Inner South
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A former Brighton private schoolboy who savagely bashed a woman during an ice-fuelled home invasion has avoided a jail sentence.
Mark Koeble met his victim, on a dating website in August, 2017.
The pair had an arrangement where Koeble would give ice to the victim in exchange for sex.
They got together “15 to 20” times before the victim called it quits on October 27, 2017.
Enraged, Koeble messaged the victim and demanded $270 for ice and cannabis he had previously provided.
He told the victim she’d “lose her digits” if she didn’t pay him the cash.
Koeble and another man went to the victim’s Ringwood home on November 18, 2017.
Koeble, armed with a Stanley knife, barged his way into the house.
When the victim told him she was broke and would have to pay him the following week, he whipped out his knife and said “I’ll just cut your finger off (and) I’ll just start taking your stuff”.
The violent brute then pushed the victim onto her bed and pressed the knife against.
Then he grabbed her by the neck, pushed her into the wardrobe and punched her in the head several times.
Another man living at the victim’s home tried to calm Koeble down but the thug threatened to stab him and two other men who were at the house.
He then turned back to the victim and punched her in the jaw and to the side of the head, kicked her and tried to throw her through the bedroom window but he slipped over.
Koeble was arrested shortly after but was too drug-affected to be interviewed by police.
Koeble, 48, was sentenced in the County Court on August 22 after pleading guilty to several charges including aggravated burglary and assault.
The former St Leonard’s College student fell on hard times after his gardening company went bust following the Global Financial Crisis.
The court heard Koeble was sacked the week before he attacked the victim and “his mind wasn’t right”.
Koeble had no priors but the court heard he had a long history of cannabis use and was using ice daily at the time of the attack.
Judge Wendy Wilmoth accepted a psychologist report that Koeble was a “low risk” of reoffending.
She also highlighted his efforts to undertake drug and anger management counselling.
“(General deterrence and denunciation) are served in this case by the scrutiny and supervision of a long community corrections order with extended work hours and attendance of programs,” Judge Wilmoth said.
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“The need for specific deterrence is considerably reduced by the insight you have gained and the steps you have taken towards you rehabilitation.”
Koeble, who spent a month in custody after his arrest, was sentenced to a three-year community corrections order.
He will also need to perform 250 hours of community service.
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