Taituli Asosa Toetu stabbed wife in her back at her Hampton Park home as she held their baby
A man had just come out of prison for attacking his wife when he went back to her Hampton Park home. It seems he didn’t learn his lesson, starting a fight over finances, and as she held their four month-old baby.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A violent thug who stabbed his partner twice while she was holding their four-month-old child has been jailed for nine months.
Taituli Asosa Toetu had only been out of prison for two days after serving a sentence for threatening and assaulting the same woman when he again attacked the mother of his three young kids.
He twice stabbed her in the back with a butter knife, and said if she wasn’t holding their youngest child at the time he would have cut her in the neck.
Since arriving from New Zealand in 2015 the 30-year-old has racked up a violent rap sheet, spending much of the last five years committing crimes or serving time.
Asosa Toetu pleaded guilty to unlawful assault with a weapon and community corrections order breach charges at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court heard he had been released from jail on August 15 this year after doing a nine-month stretch inside.
But on August 17 he began arguing with the woman at her Hampton Park home over her spending habits while he was in custody.
As she held the baby he walked into the kitchen, picked up a butter knife and returned to the lounge.
She tried to escape but he stabbed her and threatened he would have done more damage if she didn’t have the child in her arms.
She managed to flee the house and run down the street.
Police were called and arrested Asosa Toetu outside the front of the property but he denied assaulting his partner.
Inside the home officers found the knife hidden in a cot.
His four-year-old child then told police “that’s the knife daddy used on mummy”.
The woman suffered two small puncture wounds to her back, but refused ambulance treatment.
Asosa Toetu’s defence lawyer blasted his own client saying what he did was “absolutely reprehensible conduct”.
He conceded a jail term was appropriate but asked for it not to be longer than a year, which would trigger his deportation as Asosa Toetu is not a citizen of Australia.
Magistrate Tony Burns said he was a “violent thug” with a history of “nasty” assaults.
“You seem to have no respect for women,” Mr Burns said.
“You behave appallingly.”
Asosa Toetu was jailed for a total of nine months, minus 22 days he has already served in custody.
MORE COURT NEWS
POLICE BASHER BLAMES MEDIA FOR DRUNKEN RELAPSE