Bundaberg region dad sentenced for multiple domestic violence charges

A young brother and sister have been sent to live in foster homes following a brutal attack on them by their drunk father.

Bundaberg dad sentenced for multiple domestic violence charges.

A father from the Bundaberg region has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for a brutal attack on his children.

The offender had a history of domestic violence, with the last several years ago, Bundaberg District Court was told on Thursday.

This latest offence, which occurred in 2023, was a significant “breach of trust” involving his teenage son and daughter.
He was convicted of two counts of choking, suffocation, strangulation, four counts of common assault, breaching a domestic violence order, obstructing police, possessing dangerous drugs and two counts of wilful damage.

The incident unfolded while the children were at home.

At the time, a protection order was in place for the children.

The son was building a fire in the backyard with his father, the court heard. The situation escalated when he expressed his desire to stop.

According to Crown prosecutor Amy Stannard, the father then followed the boy to the veranda and threatened him with a lighter.

The situation worsened as the father pursued the child into the house and continued to attempt to burn his lip with the lighter.

The confrontation turned physical when the boy grabbed his father’s arm to protect himself.

The father then choked his son and lifted him off the ground before throwing the boy to the ground, causing him to hit his head on a metal bed frame.

Bundaberg Courthouse. A father from the Bundaberg region has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for a brutal attack on his children

The two exchanged punches and the father used the boy’s jacket to strangle him further.

The boy’s teenage sister intervened, pushing her father off her brother, the court heard.

The siblings fled outside the house, but their father followed, demanding his daughter’s phone. When she refused, he smashed a television and pushed her.

The daughter escaped and called emergency services (000), leading to the father’s arrest.

When police arrived they discovered cannabis hidden in the father’s phone case.

The boy was taken to hospital, where he was found with superficial marks on his shoulders and limbs, bruising at the front of his neck, and red marks around his neck.

Concerns were raised about the father’s previous violent tendencies.

Barrister Jessica Horne from Legal Aid said the father regretted destroying the relationship with his children and the relationship between them, as they were now separated in different foster homes.

The father had turned to alcohol to cope with the breakdown of his marriage and had full custody of the children.

15-year-old saves brother by intervening in dad’s cruel attack

Judge Amanda McDonnell acknowledged the father’s time in pre-sentence custody and his intoxication at the time of the offence.

“Your children have been placed in foster care, and you hope to be reunited with them,” she said.

“I consider that a sentence of imprisonment is the only option. This was a significant breach of trust. It was only the intervention of your daughter which stopped the second instance of strangulation.”

The father was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, with the term suspended after 13 months.

It was declared that the 343 days he spent in pre-sentence custody would be considered time already served.

Following his release, he will be under the surveillance of a correctional service officer for two years and is expected to live with his mother for support.

Originally published as Bundaberg region dad sentenced for multiple domestic violence charges