Former Jabiru firefighter walks away with suspended sentence for beating up wife, relatives

THE former officer in charge of the Jabiru fire station who beat up his wife and two other women in a drunken stupor has walked from court with a suspended sentence and a fine

• Jabiru firefighter Damien Parker pleads guilty to beating up wife and two other women in a drunken stupor

THE former officer in charge of the Jabiru fire station who beat up his wife and two other women in a drunken stupor has walked from court with a suspended sentence and a $1000 fine.

Damien Parker, 53, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to aggravated assault, property damage and drink-driving following the incident at his home on September 5 last year.

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The court heard Parker had consumed “a large amount of beer, wine and whiskey” with his wife Karreen Noble and her two relatives Sarah and Rita Pikari, when he became belligerent shortly after midnight.

The Pikaris have a young child together and Parker told them “you tarts need to leave, I’m going to throw that two-year-old kid out of this house”.

When Karreen asked him “Why would you say that?” Parker replied “Who the f*** do you think you are?” and punched her in the mouth.

The court heard that as the two other women moved towards Parker in an attempt to protect Karreen, he also began throwing punches at them, causing them both to fall to the ground.

In handing Parker a four month sentence, suspended immediately, judge Greg Macdonald said while the attack would have been “very frightening” for the women, he accepted he was “horrified with yourself for what you did that day”.

“I do suspect that you’ve probably had some challenges with grog over the last few years (but) you’ve said that you don't drink anymore, that’s a fine thing,” he said.

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“I am very concerned that alcohol may creep into your life again to an extent where it is harmful to yourself and those around you.

“Clearly you snapped on the night, it was absolutely out of character.”

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