Cairns Supreme Court awards domestic violence victim $364,000 after horrific abuse

A woman has been awarded $364,000 in damages after her sadistic partner tortured her so badly he broke her bones, spat on her, punched her in the spine and told her she was on his hit list and would die. Warning: Distressing content

A woman has been awarded $364,000 in damages after her sadistic partner tortured her so badly he broke her bones, spat on her, punched her in the spine, waterboarded her and put her on a “hit list” of people he intended to kill with a shotgun.

Teresa Jane Eastlake took civil action against former Ergon Energy worker Shannon Leslie Capner, 44, who was convicted over his horrific treatment of Ms Eastlake.

Capner, from Townsville, was sentenced in mid-2021 on 20 charges, including attempting to pervert the course of justice, and received a six year prison sentence.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux said at the time of sentencing the offending was protracted violent, demeaning and controlling.

The court heard during sentencing Capner stood on the woman’s neck with steel-capped boots, and broke bones.

Shannon Leslie Capner, 42, was sentenced to six years jail after pleading guilty to a string of domestic violence offences. The Townsville District Court was told he subjected the woman to years of abuse. He pleaded guilty on the second day of trial after reaching an agreement with prosecutors to drop three substantive charges including torture and strangulation in a domestic setting.

On one occasion, he punched the woman repeatedly, called her insulting and degrading names and said he would stab her if she tried to leave the room and he would kill her if she tried to call police.

“I’m going to run you down,” he said. “See how far you get before I stab you.”

Another time, he punched Ms Eastlake in the spine, she fell and he landed multiple further flows before pulling her up by the hair, spitting in her face, throttling her throat and telling her she should be making him happy.

She tried to leave to check one of her children but could not.

The worst ordeal was when the couple was at home and Capner told Ms Eastlake she was on his hit list, a list of people he intended to kill with a shotgun.

Shannon Leslie Capner at Townsville Court. Picture: Ashley Pillhofer

He put a shovel in the car, told Ms Eastlake to “get in the f****** car” and that he was going to smash her head into the pole she was clinging to.

He ultimately grabbed her and dragged her into a shed, where her head likely hit a cupboard and she lost consciousness.

“She came to inside a bedroom in the shed, with the defendant standing over her, holding a sledgehammer,” Justice Henry said.

“He swung it at her head. It hit the concrete floor, close to her head,” Justice Henry said.

She passed out again and when she regained consciousness he was filling a 15 litre container with water – he had water boarded her in the past, Justice Henry said.

“You don’t have to do this, why are you doing this,” Ms Eastlake pleaded, and he responded “to teach you a lesson”.

He then grabbed her by the hair and held his hand over her face so she could not breathe, held a knife to her throat, saying “it only takes 15 seconds for you to bleed out”.

The attack continued until police with sirens blazing arrived on the scene.

In yet another horrifying attack, Capner held the woman’s face down on a sofa before turning her around, pouring water into her face so she could not breathe, and beating her for hours.

Justice Henry ruled that Ms Eastlake be awarded $364,203.72.

The matter was set for trial but Capner entered late guilty pleas — only after the trial had started and his barrister told the jury Capner’s victim’s testimony was a “gross distortion” of the truth.

Capner appealed the sentence as being “manifestly excessive” but lost the appeal.

He became eligible for parole after serving only two years and four months of the sentence.

In Cairns Supreme Court, Justice James Henry said the purpose of legal action was reparation to the victim for having been deprived of the elementary and absolute right to personal liberty.

Originally published as Cairns Supreme Court awards domestic violence victim $364,000 after horrific abuse