Man smashes partner’s head into floor, destroys furniture in violent assault

The man narrowly avoided time behind bars after the Warwick court heard claims the terrifying attack on his partner was a ‘serious misjudgment’ fuelled by alcohol and substances.

IN COURT: The Warwick court heard the man had “no independent recollection” of his violent attack on his partner. Picture: iStock

A man who threw his ex-partner to the ground and bashed her head on the ground several times in a terrifying domestic violence assault has blamed experimenting with drugs for the “serious misjudgment”.

An argument broke out between the man and his partner late at night on November 21, 2020, when the pair returned from a party to find the woman’s dog had damaged a spa at their Grantham home.

The Warwick Magistrates Court heard the woman went to bed shortly afterwards but the 51-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, kicked down the door.

Police prosecutor Ken Wiggan said the man dragged his then-partner over to the bedroom window before pushing her face into a bedside table three times.

Sergeant Wiggan said the woman begged him to stop and locked the door behind him, but the man soon forced his way back into the room and again dragged her off the bed.

“She grabbed her phone and ran down the hallway so she could call the police ... (and) he then punched eight holes in the bedroom wall,” Sergeant Wiggan said.

“He’s then gone into the hallway and thrown a set of car keys at her, saying words to the effect that he loves her on a number of occasions.”

The Warwick court heard the man’s violence continued to escalate as he up-ended the dining room table and threw the woman to the ground, then grabbed her by the hair and hit her head against the floor multiple times.

Sergeant Wiggan said the assault finally ended when the man threw the woman’s broken iPhone into the damaged spa and left with the dog.

The court was told the relationship ended shortly after the assault and a domestic violence order was put in place.

Defence lawyer Amber Acreman said her client’s offending was a “serious misjudgment” fuelled by several hours of alcohol consumption and an unknown drug he took at the party earlier that evening.

She said the violence was “completely out of character”, as the man had no mental health or substance abuse issues and appeared in court with a clean criminal history.

“Someone told him to try a particular substance, and he doesn’t even know what it was. He has no independent recollection of what happened at home,” Ms Acreman said.

“He’s not just lost his relationship, he’s lost his home and everything that goes with it except for his car ... those are serious consequences for him.”

Ms Acreman added her client paid almost $5000 for repairs to the woman’s home prior to his court appearance.

The man’s violent assault was condemned by magistrate Julian Noud as an example of a “blight on civil society”.

The man pleaded guilty to one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm and wilful damage.

He was sentenced to six months’ jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.

Originally published as Man smashes partner’s head into floor, destroys furniture in violent assault