Man on parole bashes lover
AN IPSWICH man bashed his partner in a jealous rage when she took him into her house after falling in love with him while he was in prison.
The woman started visiting the man, now 28, when he was serving time at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre for burglary.
Ipswich District Court yesterday heard the pair became close around December 2010, and when he was released from jail he went to live with her at Redbank Plains.
But not long after beginning their out-of-prison relationship, the man, who cannot be named to protect the victim, started becoming jealous when the woman spoke to other men at the shops or on the phone.
On November 29 the man unleashed a vicious bashing on the woman, which lasted more than an hour, and left her with injuries including bruising and lacerations.
He picked her up and threw her to the ground, repeatedly punched her in the face and head, rammed a bed into her stomach until she vomited, threatened her with a boning knife, tore her mouth apart with his fingers and ripped the clothes from her body.
The terrified woman fled from the house and was taken to Ipswich Hospital for treatment.
The man pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, after his defence accepted a plea bargain and the Crown dropped the original charges of torture.
Judge Greg Koppenol said the man's actions were "cowardly".
"You abused the love she had extended to you while you were in custody and after you were released," Judge Koppenol said.
The judge accepted the man's violent behaviour towards women, including two prior convictions, was driven by the use of drugs, including methamphetamines.
"(But) there is hardly a need to say offences of violence towards woman can never be justified," Judge Koppenol said.
"You present today as a man who's done this before."
The man, who was on parole at the time of the offence for armed robbery with a gurney altered to look like a weapon, was sentenced to 18 months prison on top of what was left to serve for the robbery offence.
With time already spent in custody, he will be eligible to apply for parole on May 28.
