Judge Gregory Geason ‘tracked, coerced, hit’ partner, court hears

A Tasmanian Supreme Court judge allegedly controlled and coerced his then partner, accused of causing her to fall and bang her head amid a drink-fuelled rage, a court has heard.

Justice Gregory Geason leaves court on Monday, 15th June 2024. Picture: Linda Higginson.

A Supreme Court judge grabbed his then partner by her upper arms, causing bruising, and pushed her chest, causing her to fall and bang her head, a court has heard.

Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday heard summaries of the prosecution and defence cases in the trial of Tasmanian judge Gregory Geason, and evidence from the complainant.

Geason has pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault and one count of emotional abuse or intimidation relating to a woman, with whom he was in a relationship from about April to October 2023.

The prosecution told the court it would allege Geason behaved in a controlling and coercive manner toward the woman during their relationship.

Prosecutor Neill Hutton said on October 31 Geason’s partner received a photograph phone message, at which Geason “became enraged and snatched the phone”.

He then went through the complainant’s deleted messages and called her a “slut”, grabbing her upper arms tightly, Mr Hutton said.

Geason then “hit her to her chest very hard several times” and “pushed her chest causing her to fall back and hit her head”, he told the court.

Later, Geason explained his behaviour by saying he had “had too much to drink on an empty stomach”, the prosecutor said.

Police issued a family violence order against Geason on November 2. A search of his phone and iPad revealed internet searches involving topics such as “help me I’m abusive” and the song “Sorry for hurting you”, Mr Hutton said.

Geason had also searched for information about assault charges in Tasmania and support services for men and “excuses for men who use family violence”, Mr Hutton told the court.

Appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 2017, Geason is on leave pending the outcome of the proceedings, and sat with his legal team, which includes Perth-based KC Tom Percy.

Mr Hutton told the court Geason had tracked the woman via Apps for her phone and headphones, messaged her excessively at times, and subjected her to verbal abuse, including repeatedly calling her a “slut”.

It would be alleged Geason pressured the woman into buying a house with him, he said.

The woman told the court Geason would become “hateful and spiteful” and “verbally nasty” after drinking a bottle or more of white wine.

“He’d always call me ‘slut’ … time and time again for no reason at all and tell me I was stupid and just really horrible things,” she said. “It was really venomous like he hated me.”

Mr Percy said Geason, aged in his early 60s, was in a “loving … whirlwind” relationship with the woman, aged in her mid-40s.

There was “an unfortunate confrontation” between the two after both had been drinking, but at no time did Geason “deliberately strike or injure” the woman, Mr Percy told the court.

Mr Percy said it would be asserted the woman had suffered concussion after bumping her head on a mantelpiece and table.

She had told police and others that her recollection of the alleged assault was “very limited”, he said.

Evidence would be put to court that the complainant had several medical conditions that could make her bruise easily, and had previously been prescribed blood-thinning drugs.

The tracking was mutual and consensual and while there was at a time tension over the house purchase, it too was ultimately consensual, Mr Percy said. “There was no pressure on her,” he told the court.

Describing the woman as a former “recovering alcoholic” and “chronic problem drinker”, Mr Percy said she and Geason both would message each other in a manner some might describe as “obsessive”.

The two tracked each other on their phones consensually and either could have disabled the tracking had they chosen, Mr Percy said.

“Any suggestion that there was anything untoward or … without her knowledge is wrong,” Mr Percy told the court.

Victorian Deputy Chief Magistrate Susan Wakeling is presiding over the ongoing trial because local magistrates are known to Geason.