Dean West: Magistrate slams tanked-up thug as cowardly ‘hero’
A boozed Somerville brute terrorised his former partner in front of her young kids — then deliberately drove her car into a tree.
South East
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A magistrate has condemned a drunkard who tried to attack his ex who then had to be saved by her own children as a gutless “hero”.
Dean West was plastered when he violently argued with the woman before her kids, aged 10 and 12, stepped in between them.
The mum and the children managed to escape and hide in a paddock and call police.
But West, a strapping tradie, wasn’t done with his angry, alcohol-fuelled antics.
He then got in the woman’s car and purposely drove it straight into a tree.
The 37-year-old painter pleaded guilty to assault, car theft, damage and drink-driving charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard on January 18 this year West and the woman had been drinking at their home with friends late into the evening.
When the guests left he became angry and started yelling at his partner before the kids came rushing in to protect her.
West reached over, snapping the woman’s bra strap, before she managed to break free and run off with the children in tow and scurry to a nearby field.
When he couldn’t find them this incensed him even more.
He jumped into her Ford territory and deliberately smashed it into a nearby tree, writing it off.
Police then arrived and West turned his anger onto them before he was put in the divvy van and taken to the station.
He then blew .138, telling officers he wouldn’t comment about the assault but admitted “yep, I drove it (the car) into a f***ing tree”.
West was on a community corrections order at the time for attacking a housemate.
Defence lawyer Kieran Burke said his client was intoxicated at the time, lost control of his emotions and acted aggressively.
“It is a different man before the court today than the man who committed these offences,” Mr Burke said.
He said he now lives with a friend in Lilydale and has engaged a psychologist to deal with his anger issues.
Magistrate Richard Pithouse said West’s actions were particularly bad considering children had to take the role of defenders.
“What a hero, taking on two kids and a woman,” Mr Pithouse said.
“That is violence, it is repugnant — it is jail.”
He adjourned the case until September 21 and ordered West appear at court in person.
