Miner loses appeal over ‘savage’ torture of partner with weapons

A Qld mine worker whose “savage” attack on a woman involved electrical cords, a whipper-snipper, and a broom handle, claims he was punished too harshly.

A man who savagely tortured his partner in a “callous and brutal” attack involving a broom handle and whippersnipper has lost his bid to appeal his jailing on grounds he was punished too harshly.

A man who savagely tortured his partner in a “callous and brutal” attack involving a broom handle and whipper-snipper has lost his bid to appeal his jailing.

It comes after he claimed he was punished too harshly.

The man, who has not been named to protect his victim’s identity, tried to appeal his five-and-a-half-year jail term after pleading guilty to torture and contravening a domestic violence order in 2024.

The published Supreme Court of Queensland appeal ruling said shortly after midnight on November 1, 2023 the man, then aged 33, attacked his 38-year-old victim in a meth-fuelled rampage, inflicting a series of horrific injuries on her.

These included punching her in the face, then tying her hands and dragging her through their unit before pouring bleach over her.

During the attack she locked herself in her bedroom and yelled for neighbours to call the police, with the man then threatening to kill her before they arrived, the recently published ruling said.

A man who savagely tortured his partner in a “callous and brutal” attack involving a broom handle and whipper-snipper has lost his bid to appeal his jailing on grounds he was punished too harshly.

She “floated in and out of consciousness” during the assault which included whipping or hitting her with a phone charger, electrical cord, dog leash, whipper snipper and broom handle, strangling her with the dog leash, and stomping on her head and was in “excruciating pain”

He hit her so hard with the whipper snipper and broom handle the two items broke, the ruling said.

It is believed he whipped her more than 50 times with the electrical cord.

When she tried to hide from him in the toilet he punched through the door, creating a small hole he tried to pull her through and – when he could not – he instead “struck her in the face repeatedly with the broken door”.

The ruling said the woman “floated in and out of consciousness” during the assault and was in “excruciating pain” which included whipping or hitting her with a phone charger, electrical cord, dog leash, whipper snipper and broom handle, strangling her with the dog leash, and stomping on her head.

He then poured bleach over her before tying her hands with the leash and dragging her through the unit and outside onto the timber deck, the ruling said.

She then fled to a neighbour's home, hid and called police.

Officers arrived to find blood “oozing out of her nose and mouth” with “welts and whip marks across her body”.

They called an ambulance, and she was taken to Gympie Hospital.

The sentencing judge in 2024 called the attack an “unprovoked, protracted perpetration of violence of a cruel, callous and brutal nature” and “a savage beating, involving multiple attacks in different forms, including with weapons, including when the complainant was in multiple defenceless positions”.

The sentencing judge in 2024 called the attack an “unprovoked, protracted perpetration of violence of a cruel, callous and brutal nature” and “a savage beating, involving multiple attacks in different forms, including with weapons, including when the complainant was in multiple defenceless positions”. Picture: istock

The man, who previously worked as a trade assistant in the mines until losing the job due to his drug use, was jailed for five-and-a-half years with no parole eligibility date.

In late 2024 he sought leave to appeal claiming it was “manifestly excessive”, the ruling said.

He claimed the court should have taken into account a psychologist’s report into his mental health, and a victim impact statement from the woman saying she wanted him to have a chance at “rehabilitation rather than be incarcerated”.

These were rejected by the court who said the judge in 2024 did consider the psychologist’s report, and while the victim’s views were “benevolent” it “would be wrong to allow them to interfere” with a sentence “otherwise just in all circumstances”.

Originally published as Miner loses appeal over ‘savage’ torture of partner with weapons