Judge Gregory Geason says ‘I’m abusive’ searches ‘not an admission’ of guilt

A judge accused of assaulting his fiancee has told a court internet searches including ‘help me, I’m abusive’ were not an admission of guilt and that he did not deliberately hurt the woman.

Gregory Geason outside the Hobart Magistrates Court. Picture: Chris Kidd

A judge accused of assaulting his fiancee has told a court internet searches including “help me, I’m abusive” were not an admission of guilt and that he did not deliberately hurt the woman.

Gregory Geason on Monday told his trial in the Hobart Magistrates Court that web searches about anger management and addressing abusive behaviour were part of a self-improvement drive and a response to the claims against him.

“They don’t reflect me admitting to the violence that’s alleged against me – and I don’t,” the Tasmanian Supreme Court judge told the court.

He said he did not recall some of the searches, which also included “how to stop being an abusive person”, and that supportive family and friends may have entered some of them.

The 63-year-old judge, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault and one of emotional abuse or intimidation, said the internet searches reflected his desire to reconcile with his fiancee.

They were also a sign that he felt responsible for allowing a confrontation between them over a text message on October 31, 2023 to “escalate”.

“I took responsibility for things progressing in the way they did,” he told the court.

His accuser, whose name has been suppressed, has told the court Justice Geason flew into a “rage” after she received a “silly” selfie from a male work colleague.

She alleges he held her “very, very tightly” by the arms, punched her six to eight times in the chest and caused her to “fly” backwards, injuring her head.

However, Justice Geason told the court there were “no punches” and no pushing.

Instead, he said the woman bent towards him as he was seated and he put up an “open hand” as if to say “just leave me; I need some space”.

“I didn’t use force and (she) didn’t use force,” he said. Instead, he said his hand connected with her chest as she leaned into him.

“There was a connection and there was inevitably some force caused at that point of connection,” he said.

The woman was at the time “affected by alcohol” and had walked away but then stumbled and fell, hitting the back of her head on a table, he said.

He had grabbed her by the arms to help her up, he said. “She was a bit of a dead weight … I had to use whatever force was necessary to bring her up on to her feet,” he told the court.

While rejecting any knowledge of the cause of bruising on the woman’s neck, ribs, thighs, and shins, he believed bruising on her upper arms had been caused by him holding her to lift her up after her fall, he said.

He said fingerprint bruising on her chest was likely caused when she “connected” with his open hand while he was seated.

The court has heard the couple had a “whirlwind” relationship for just over six months in 2023.

Justice Geason told the court he had been “stripped searched and held in the cells for six hours” after his arrest. He revealed he considered moving interstate to where the woman lived and “wasn’t particularly enjoying my job as a judge…it’s not the job people think it is”.

A judge since late 2016, Justice Geason is on leave from Tasmania’s Supreme Court.

The trial continues before Victorian Deputy Chief Magistrate Susan Wakeling, flown in to preside because Justice Geason, a judge since late 2016, is known to local magistrates.