Man to be sentenced after his ex was beaten with fists and gun butt in vicious home invasion

A man set to be sentenced for a violent attack on his ex-girlfriend has a history of violence and was jailed in 2019 for breaking his mother’s jaw, a court has heard.

A MAN to be sentenced on Friday for a vicious assault against his ex-girlfriend has a history of violence against women, serving time for breaking his mother’s jaw and also assaulting his grandmother.

On Tuesday, 23-year-old Tyson James Hayes changed his plea to a charge of aggravated assault and another of aggravated burglary to guilty just before his victim was forced to give evidence in a trial in the Supreme Court in Burnie.

The charges stem from a violent incident at a unit in James St, Devonport in June, 2019.

“This was a premeditated crime with the intention to intimidate and punish the victim. He went there to assault her and it was a terrifying experience for the victim,” prosecutor Dee Earley told Justice Robert Pearce in sentencing submissions on Wednesday.

“He seems to have an issue with offences of violence.”

Hayes’ assault of his mother and grandmother occurred in the months leading up to the attack on his former girlfriend.

The Burnie court complex.

Hayes and another unidentified man broke into the young woman’s unit at 6am on June 1 as she sat on her bed listening to music. The then 19-year-old woman had just called off her volatile and abusive relationship with Hayes via message.

The prosecution said both Hayes and his companion were wearing balaclavas. The other man was also armed with a gun.

The woman was punched to the face and head and beaten with the butt of a firearm.

She cowered on the floor of her unit trying to protect her head from the blows. She suffered significant injuries and needed nine staples to seal a gash in her head.

She ran from the unit screaming for help and her neighbour covered her with a dressing gown and called the police.

Hayes’ lawyer Stephen Wright told the court the young man suffered from relationship trauma after receiving facial scarring from injuries received when burned as a young baby.

Mr Wright told the court that after he was scarred, Hayes was rejected and abandoned by his family and tormented as a child.

Hayes will be sentenced on Friday morning at 10am.