Tyrone Pascoe, 29, pleads guilty to assaulting pregnant woman in a Toowoomba home

A man whose horrific attitudes towards domestic violence made him unsuitable for community supervision was spared a higher charge despite a vicious attack on his pregnant partner.

Tyrone James Pascoe, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm after violently attacking a pregnant woman one week before Christmas 2024. Picture: Facebook

A man who told his pregnant partner to “say goodnight” as he squeezed her neck has escaped a serious domestic violence charge meant to help quell rising domestic homicides across the state.

Tyrone James Pascoe, 29, pleaded guilty before Toowoomba District Court to two counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm after violently attacking a pregnant woman in the early hours of December 16, 2024.

His plea comes after a charge against him of choking, suffocation or strangulation in a domestic relationship was downgraded to assault occasioning bodily harm – domestic violence offence.

The specific charge for choking, suffocation or strangulation without consent was introduced in Queensland in May 2016 following recommendations that found strangulation was a key predictor of domestic homicide.

Crown prosecutor Abby Kong told the court Pascoe was in bed with the woman when she confronted him about messages to other women she discovered on his phone.

Ms Kong said the pair argued before Pascoe kicked the woman off the bed, causing her to fall on her stomach.

He then climbed on top of her, yelled at her and put his arm around her neck before squeezing tight.

The woman yelled at him to stop and was told to “say goodnight” before Pascoe released her, then pushing her against the wall and causing her to hit her head as she tried to escape the room.

In hospital, the woman was found to have suffered bruising to her head, neck and torso alongside a concussion.

The court was told the woman was 12 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident.

Ms Kong said Pascoe had a long history of domestic violence offending against another person.

Ms Kong said a probation performance report classified Pascoe as unsuitable for future probation orders due to his negation of harmful behaviours.

“He maintained denials of his domestically violent behaviour, he made the comment that domestic violence orders are too easy to obtain,” Ms Kong said.

“He is considered unsuitable due to his dismissive attitude towards domestic violence, and (probation) breach proceedings are to commence after his conviction today.”

Defence barrister Frank Martin said Pascoe’s offending did not cause significant harm to the woman.

“He has woken up at 4am accused by the complainant, with her berating him and then the incident happened,” Mr Martin said.

“She was not seriously injured, she was only at the hospital for observations, she was discharged after a number of hours.”

Mr Martin said Pascoe had a good upbringing but developed an ice addiction in his young adulthood; however, on Pascoe’s instructions, had ceased all use of illegal drugs since his release from prison in 2020 for unrelated offending.

The court was told Pascoe was adamant he would not reconnect with the victim of his abuse, despite her sending multiple messages to him while awaiting his sentence.

“My instructions are, even though the complainant may wish to resume the relationship, he doesn’t wish it himself,” he said.

Judge Craig Chowdhury said Pascoe’s offending was indicative of a much larger issue with domestic violence in Australia.

“There’s a major problem in our society and it seems to be getting worse, people just can’t seem to deal with their personal issues without getting into arguments and then erupting in violence,” he said.

“It’s mainly men committing these offences, although I have sentenced women for domestic violence offences, and the community wants the courts to do something about it.”

Pascoe was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment and granted immediate parole after serving 150 days in presentence custody.