A Myrtleford man has been jailed for 32 months following “constant, callous and cruel” emotional and physical abuse of a former partner. The 32-year-old appeared at Melbourne County Court on Monday to receive his sentence to 10 charges of family violence. The court heard of multiple verbal arguments turning violent between June 2022 and October 2024 in Bright and Myrtleford, including incidents when the victim was pregnant and when their child was being held by her mother. Assaults ranged from strangulation by the fist, dragging her by the hair along the front lawn, forcing a rag in her mouth, kicking her legs out from under her and multiple slaps to the head and face. The physical abuse came with demeaning and belittling verbal barbs. In one instance while she was driving, the defendant grabbed her neck and swung her from side to side, calling her a “retard” and threatening her in front of their child. In one of the last incidents in October 2024 during an argument over finances, the victim, who was holding her young child, was grabbed by the throat, had her clothes ripped and, when the child was removed to the bedroom, was slapped in the face causing her nose to bleed, with her glasses broken. Following some of the offending the court heard the man would break down crying expressing remorse to the victim, promising to change and never offend again, only to continue the abuse. “It was intended to undermine her self-worth and make her more dependent on you,” Judge Paul Higham said. In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman expressed the ongoing trauma she felt every day as she and her eldest daughter work to “rebuild their lives”. “I continue to fear, waiting for him to find me and harm me again,” it read. “These moments would replay relentlessly and haunt me and my daughter.” The man was arrested on 6 May 2025 and intended to challenge the charges against him until a guilty plea was formally made in July this year. Defence counsel told the court the man had accepted responsibility for his offending through his plea and had no real priors, a strong work history and parental support, and had been a productive member of the community with good prospects of rehabilitation. Judge Higham jailed the 32-year-old for two years and eight months with 21 months non-parole. “Over two years you reduced your partner to a shadow of her former self… you condemned her to live her life on the promise you would change,” he said. “It was constant, it was callous, it was cruel. “Your offending shows a most concerning exercise of control and unbridled rage on your partner. “You had every opportunity to cease your offending and put those words into action, but you did not. “Family violence is a scourge and blight on our community, it has no place in our society.” The man had spent 24 days in custody after being remanded at his plea hearing. Following sentencing, Judge Higham urged the man to seek help in custody and to try and understand where his rage came from. NB: We chose not to name the defendant in order to protect the identity of the victim.
