A Wangaratta man who locked an intimate partner in his bedroom for some 10 hours, strangling her and threatening her with a knife and a taser has been jailed for five years. The 32-year-old, who can’t be named under a court order, recently appeared at Melbourne County Court pleading guilty to 18 charges related to domestic violence and drug possession. The court heard charges stemmed from three incidents between March and June 2025. The man and woman began a ‘quasi-relationship’ in November 2024. He became increasingly controlling after learning she was pregnant with his child, despite an intervention order being in place. On the night of 4 June 2025, the woman was held captive in the man's bedroom for almost 10 hours. In that time the man strangled her, sparked a taser towards her and held a 30cm long knife to her neck, threatening to kill her and her dog. The woman believed she was going to be killed. While the man sat slumped and motionless, the woman was able to break open the PIN code locked bedroom door, which woke the man. She ran, moved items barricading the front door and escaped to a friend's home. The friend had been contacted while the woman was locked in the room. The man also strangled her in an earlier incident in mid-March 2025, when he hid her phone in the toilet area of her home and pulled her up off the floor by the neck as she was in the process of retrieving it. The man stopped when the woman's brother called out, and she left as the man began to cry. On 28 March 2025 the man punched the woman in the face as she was holding her dog, falling back and struck her head on the clothesline. The punch broke her nose, and she pushed it back into place. “You’re not going to be so pretty now are you?” the man said, as blood poured from the woman’s nose. Police arrested the man on 11 June 2025, and he told officers the allegations were “a bunch of lies and bulls**t”. Defence counsel said his client was experiencing psychosis and paranoia due to substance abuse. The defendant was born and raised in Wangaratta and was exposed to drug abuse, sexual abuse, family violence and general instability as a child. Although no victim impact statement was submitted, prosecution asked for the court to consider the “terrifying experience” endured by the woman. The man also pleaded guilty to being in possession of numerous drugs, poisons and $5600 of proceeds of crime during a visit to the woman’s home in May 2025. Judge George Georgiou said the man acted with complete disrespect for the woman’s dignity and her right to live and enjoy her community. “Your conduct was reprehensible and must be strongly denounced,” he said. “Domestic violence is a scourge on the community and there is a strong need to deter others from engaging in such conduct. “You sought to blame her for your conduct by asking her why she made you do this. “To be clear, the blame lay on you and not on her.” Judge Georgiou ordered a three-year and three-month non-parole period.
