An ‘atrocious’ domestic violence abuser will spend Christmas in jail after pleading guilty to seven charges including damaging property and breaching multiple domestic violence orders.
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The Ballarat man, who The Courier has chosen not to name to protect the identity of the victim, appeared before the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Lisa Schoemaker told the court the female victim detailed an incident on October 10 of a verbal argument in front of two children, which resulted in a child running outside, chasing the accused as he left and the child accidentally receiving a head injury.
The victim told police that on October 17, the accused became “abusive” to her, ringing her and stating “he would shatter the glass door and to ‘say goodbye to her TV’,” before he punched walls in their home, according to the police prosecutor.
Magistrate Gregory Robinson told the court the man had “persistent breaches”, and when sentenced him on family violence matters in April this year, if not for the man’s plea of guilty at that time, he would have received 28 months in prison.
“After I released him (on a community corrections order), a young girl has gone to hospital, walls are being punched,” Magistrate Robinson said.
“I'm very concerned about this, we've used everything in our arsenal ... jail, community corrections orders and intervention orders haven’t worked, so why would a deferral work?
“If I were to impose a term of imprisonment today, it would go beyond February.”
In response to incidents of criminal damage, the man told police that it was “stupidity, she pretty much broke up with me, I didn’t know what else to do”.
The man’s defence lawyer Scott Belcher said that a prison term would be a “bandaid to a gaping wound”, and argued for a deferral of jail so the man could live in Melbourne with family.
“He's got a very poor and atrocious history,” Mr Belcher told the court.
The defence lawyer proposed his client be released on “very stringent” conditions, including being unable to enter Ballarat except for court matters, and undergoing counselling.
Senior Constable Schoemaker told the court she did not “know if there's enough bail conditions in order to protect the victim from further offending”.
According to police, the victim stated on October 8, she became involved in a “heated verbal argument” with the accused, where he punched additional holes in walls of the lounge room.
When interviewed about the incident of criminal damage, the man told police he just “boiled over”.
The man was remanded in custody and will return to court in February for sentencing.