Judge: I was wrong in erotic asphyxiation sentencing

A Wagga Wagga judge has admitted to an ‘error’ in his sentencing of a former air force corporal who choked his partner to death during sex.

Rian Toyer.

A Wagga Wagga judge has admitted to an “error” in his sentencing of a former air force corporal who choked his partner to death during sex.

Rian Toyer was found guilty of manslaughter in the District Court on March 19 after he engaged in erotic asphyxiation with his transgender lover Mhelody Bruno, which eventually led to her death.

Toyer was originally sentenced by judge Gordon Levre to a 22-month intensive correction order with conditions including 500 hours’ community service.

The Director of Public Prosecutions later ruled an ICO could not be imposed for manslaughter, forcing Judge Levre on Monday to revise the punishment to 22 months’ imprisonment.

“Clearly in purporting to impose an intensive correction order, I made an error,” Judge Levre’s statement read.

“That error was fundamental and significant and one of which I must take ownership.”

Toyer, 33, and Bruno, 25, met on dating app Grindr in August 2019 and commenced a three-week relationship. On September 20, 2019, they had an argument that saw Toyer throw Bruno out of his Wagga Wagga apartment, but they then spent the night together at a flat. Upon waking the next day, they had sex, during which Toyer choked Bruno by placing his hand over her throat, rendering her unconscious. She died the next day in hospital after Toyer called an ambulance.

While the revised sentence mitigated some outrage over the original correction order, Women’s Safety NSW chief executive Hayley Foster said it was “still woefully inadequate”.

The killing of Mhelody Bruno has been the subject of intense media coverage since her death in 2019, largely driven by apprehension that her death was not being treated as seriously as others – first by police, then by the judicial system – because of her transgender status. Several large public protests have been held by trans organisations over these issues and over the high rates of violence against trans people.