‘Wash my car in your blood’: Toowoomba DV offender terrorised ex before violent attack

‘I told you I would kill you outside’: A man who sent his ex-wife a photo of a woman being killed has fronted court for a chilling attack that left her unconscious on a Toowoomba street.

Picture: istock / file

Despite the efforts of the police and courts to protect a woman from her violent ex-husband, a Toowoomba mother was almost killed by the man outside a suburban Toowoomba home years after their separation.

In the lead up the abhorrent attack at Kearneys Spring in March 2023, the court heard Ziyad Dawood Khalaf Simoqa was on parole for other domestic violence crimes, and was in breach of a protection order.

Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher said the 28-year-old Iraqi man’s behaviour towards the woman, who was about 15 when the pair married in 2014, had clearly escalated and he had no regard for orders.

Simoqa fronted Toowoomba District Court on Friday, May 10, and pleaded guilty to the following DV crimes assault occasioning bodily harm, strangulation, breaching a protection order made in early 2021, and entering a home with the intent to commit a crime.

The Toowoomba court house.

Escalation of behavior

Simoqa’s six-page criminal history, which included periods of jail time, was tendered to the court and almost exclusively pertained to domestic violence crimes committed against the woman.

Prosecutor Fletcher said Simoqa threatened to kill the woman on numerous occasions and also sent her a photo on Instagram which showed a woman being held by her hair while a machete was lodged halfway through her neck.

Months later, Ms Fletcher said Simoqa approached the woman while she was sitting in a car with her cousin and daughter, and told her he was going to kill her.

He later sent a message telling the woman if he ever saw the two again, he would kill them both and use their blood the wash his car.

Simoqa disrupted court proceedings to object to his past offences being heard, stating it was against his human rights and he had already been convicted of those matters.

Lucky to be alive

The court heard just before 7pm on a Friday, the woman was at her cousin’s home at Kearneys Spring when Simoqa walked through the front door, locked it behind him, and made a beeline for the woman.

Ms Fletcher said a smiling Simoqa grabbed her by the hair, forced her back into a seat, and began punching her in the back and stomach.

Simoqa remains in police custody.

She pleaded for her cousin to call the police but the non-English speaking man did not know how to call for help.

However, the woman managed to get her phone and call the police, but as she tried to speak Simoqa covered her mouth and began beating her with more force.

He then dragged her outside by her hair and attempted to gouge out her eyes, Ms Fletcher said.

Ms Fletcher said Simoqa told the woman he had been following her, before grabbing her by the neck and pushing her into shrubbery.

While strangling the woman, with his free hand he began digging around his pockets and told the woman he had always said he was going to end her life while outside.

As the woman’s cousin tried and failed to pull Simoqa off, she began to lose feeling in her arms and legs, and then everything went black.

Ms Fletcher said when police arrived the woman was still unconscious, however regained consciousness before being treated by Queensland Ambulance paramedics.

The court heard the woman had visual bruises and abrasions to her neck, throat, hand, and forearm.

Judgement delay

Simoqa’s sentence was pushed back to June 3, as the translator required for the sentence was required to leave court for other engagements.

When the sentence resumes in mid-2024, the court will hear details about Simoqa’s antecedence before Judge Deborah Richards hands down her jail term.

He was remanded in custody.