$3000: The price a man put on his wife’s head
A Queensland man who threatened to put a $3000 bounty on his wife's head if she called police on him over a terrifying domestic violence incident has faced court.
JUST $3000 is the price a Bundaberg man put on his wife's head when he threatened to hire a hitman to kill her if she went to police - and he ended up in jail.
The 45-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the victim, made the chilling threat as he used his body weight to pin his partner to the bed and refused to let her go.
Yesterday Bundaberg Magistrates Court heard the man and his wife had argued after she heard him speaking about her to online gamers as he played video games.
During the argument the man grabbed his wife by the shirt, dragged her into the bedroom and ordered her onto the bed, when she refused, he pushed her onto it.
As the argument escalated, he pinned her to the bed and told her if police were called he would kill her, and if he went to jail, he would pay $3000 to have her killed.
The terrifying ordeal happened on June 27, just days after the man had appeared in court. As a result of that appearance, the man was also on bail at the time.
Yesterday the man pleaded guilty to three counts of contravening a DV order, which also included an earlier instance where the man chased his wife around their home, causing her to fall.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Tina Bland conceded the man did not have a lengthy history, but, concerningly, it was now the "fifth contravention of this order against the same aggrieved".
"These orders are in place to protect the aggrieved and clearly this order is not working at this point, " she said.
In his defence, the man's barrister told the court the 45-year-old had been attending weekly Alcoholic's Anonymous meetings and was working hard to get his life in order after his alcohol consumption was as much as four litres of wine in a day.
The court heard the man also suffered PTSD, which was made worse by his alcohol consumption.
"It was when his daughter told him she was scared of him that motivated him to get better," he said.
"It's motivated him to not drink anymore."
During sentencing, Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said she hoped the man would be able to rehabilitate himself.
"It has been said that your daughter saying she was scared of you in the way that you act and I have been told it has driven it home to you that it is time to change," she said.
"One could say that you probably should have had this thought before now, you have been on probation before, you've been on parole before and you've spent time in custody, but it's better late than never."
The man was sentenced to a head sentence of 12 months jail and immediately released after serving 97 days in pre-sentence custody, with the rest of his jail term suspended for three years.
As one of the conditions of his probation Ms Hartigan ordered the man not be allowed to consume alcohol, must participate in random breath testing when required, and must return a negative reading.
Originally published as $3000: The price a man put on his wife’s head
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