Ipswich man jailed for horror golf club attack on partner, assaulting grandfather

An Ipswich man brutally beat his grandfather – fracturing bones – after the elderly man interrupted his traumatising golf club attack on a young woman, who a court heard had thought she was going to die.

An Ipswich man brutally beat his grandfather – fracturing bones – after the elderly man interrupted his traumatising golf club attack on a young woman, who a court heard had thought she was going to die.

An Ipswich court has heard how a young woman feared for her life as she fell in and out of consciousness after her partner brutally beat her with a golf club.

The traumatic assault came to an end when her attacker’s grandfather tried to rescue her – but the elderly man received his own brutal punishment in turn.

The defendant, in his 30s, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on September 20, 2023, to two counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm (all domestic violence offences).

He addressed the court directly after entering his plea to apologise.

“If I could change it I would,” he said.

“But I’ve done it and I accept all responsibilities … I’m very sorry.”

The court heard he had been in a domestic relationship with the victim, who was over a decade younger than him and in her early 20s at the time.

In May, 2021, the man had been drinking at a home in Ipswich with his partner and the two got into an argument.

Crown prosecutor Alex Baker said the man had punched the woman in the face and grabbed her neck.

Hestarted to squeeze before his own mother pulled him away, the court heard.

Ms Baker said the man then used a golf club to strike his partner eight to ten times in the head and body.

Judge Amanda McDonnell noted the woman had repeatedly told him to stop and “felt a genuine fear that she was going to die”.

The man’s mother and 82-year-old grandfather tried to intervene, but the man turned his anger against the elderly man.

He had used a wooden fence paling to strike his grandfather six times in the jaw and shoulder area, the court heard.

Judge McDonnell said the grandfather had crawled to safety and called police.

When they arrived, the man had fled the scene and the woman was falling in and out of consciousness.

The woman was taken to hospital and treated for a large scalp laceration which the court heard was bleeding profusely and penetrated down to her skull.

She also suffered bruising to the side of her back and fractures to her spine – which the medical report indicated were wedging or compression fractures.

The grandfather was treated at hospital for multiple lacerations to his arms, bruising, and a fractured collarbone.

The man turned himself into police in the days following the attack and spent nearly two years and five months in custody waiting for his sentence.

Defence barrister Levis Menolotto said his client had been intoxicated at the time of the offending and didn’t have a “particularly good recollection of events”.

The man had experienced a very troubled upbringing, and had struggled to maintain work due to alcoholism and periods of homelessness.

Mr Menolotto said his client was now the healthiest he had ever been after that time in custody.

He had been attending church and intended to relocate to the south Moreton Islands upon his release, the court heard.

Mr Menolotto submitted that his client could be granted the certainty of release due to the extensive amount of time he had spent in custody and his guilty plea.

He said the man may have difficulty obtaining parole from the parole board, as he had committed this offending while on parole for an earlier common assault offence.

Ms Baker said the offending was a “very high level of violence” and had a significant lasting impact on the woman involved.

Two years on from the attack, the woman still suffered ongoing back pain and PTSD including anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, nightmares and tremors, Ms Baker said.

Judge McDonnell said she would ameliorate the head sentence she would have otherwise imposed due to the significant amount of time the man had spent in custody.

However, she said his parole prospects would best be decided by the parole board.

She sentenced him to three and a half years imprisonment, with immediate parole eligibility.

“I appreciate that’s not the outcome that you were hoping for today,” Judge McDonnell told the man.

She declared 748 of his 866 days in custody as time-served, as the sentence was cumulative upon his previous common assault sentence.

Originally published as Ipswich man jailed for horror golf club attack on partner, assaulting grandfather