Bronson Foster a.k.a. Bronson Plummer sentenced for vicious DV assaults in Tennant Creek
A Tennant Creek man who assaulted his partner twice, the second time knocking her out cold on a public street then sinking his foot into her face, has avoided jail after counsellors found he was mending his ways.
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A Tennant Creek alcoholic who assaulted his partner twice, the second time knocking her out cold on a public street then sinking his foot into her face, has avoided jail after counsellors found he was mending his ways and had given up booze.
Bronson Foster, 26, more commonly known as Bronson Plummer, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin to charges of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering serious harm, both committed against his girlfriend in July 2023.
At the time of the offending, Plummer and his then girlfriend were living together, his sentencing hearing before Justice Stephen Southwood on October 1 heard.
On July 20 last year, the pair drank to intoxication at a variety of Tennant Creek licensed venues and residences, before Plummer, for an unbeknown reason, punched his girlfriend twice in the ribs, causing her to fall to the ground and “gasp for air”.
He apologised and the pair slept in the same bed, the court heard.
The following day, while the woman lay in bed in pain, Plummer got blind drunk again, and when he woke at 11am the next day, July 22, he promised his girlfriend he would not drink that day, a promise he broke.
That evening, after tiffing over Plummer’s drinking and jealousy issues within the relationship, the pair engaged in a physical fight which saw them both “rolling around on the road” at the intersection of Turner St and Ford Cres.
During the fight, Plummer punched his partner once in the head, causing her to crumple unconscious onto the roadway.
He then kicked her with his left foot once in the face, and was steadying himself for a second kick when a bystander pushed him away.
She suffered “bruised ribs, a bruised right eye and cheek and a lump to the left of her forehead” and required treatment at Tennant Creek Hospital, Justice Southwood told the court.
Plummer struggled with alcohol abuse and anger management issues for much of his adult life, the court heard.
His childhood, in which he was one of nine siblings, was “blighted by instability” and he attended at least five schools.
Despite the instability Plummer faced, before the current offending, he had only a drink driving conviction on his criminal record.
The court heard since his arrest and release on bail, he had moved in with his supportive grandmother and obtained employment with the Julalikari Aboriginal Corporation performing maintenance on buildings within town camps.
He had remained abstinent from alcohol since his arrest, and a qualified counsellor, in a report tendered to the court, said Plummer had “demonstrated a growing capacity for self-awareness and, importantly, self-regulation”.
Plummer was imprisoned for 18 months, wholly suspended for an operational period of 12 months, conditional upon Plummer being under the supervision of Community Corrections, being of good behaviour, maintaining his current employment, and submitting to alcohol testing.
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