*Reader discretion is advised Police have pushed for a jail term for a Corowa man who knocked out his pregnant partner and assaulted her mother and a passerby in a drunken tirade in front of his partner’s children. The 28-year-old appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court last Friday along with supporters as he submitted his plea. The court heard the man and his partner at the time were in a defacto relationship, and the woman was 39 weeks pregnant with the man’s child. On 14 January this year the accused borrowed the woman’s car to drive to Corowa. He returned some time later and left without word, slurring on the phone to the woman as she asked what he was doing. “I’ll burn your car down if you touch my stuff,” he said. The man had a history of offending while drinking, as the court heard he refused a breath test on 26 January last year after driving through a red light on Worland Road, telling police he knew he was over. Later that night the accused returned to the woman’s home and was acting erratically, taking a monkey bike and riding it up and down the street, catching the attention of neighbours. The 28-year-old tried to enter the woman’s house but he was locked out and told to leave. The woman had called her mother to be with her following the earlier phone call with the man, for her safety. He became agitated and starting kicking items around the house prompting the woman to go outside to him. The woman shoved the man and he began to throw punches at her, catching the attention of a nearby witness. The passerby jumped in to protect the women, but was kicked by the accused and thrown to the ground. He then assaulted and kicked the woman’s mother, who sustained four fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. The man’s partner became emotionally distressed and was then kicked by the accused in the stomach, falling to her knees, then kicked to the head which knocked her out. The woman’s children saw the scene and ran in fear to a neighbour’s house as their mother went in and out of consciousness. The man walked away and was seen by police watching the scene from a distance. He resisted arrest and threatened an officer as he was handcuffed and taken into custody. A “heartbroken” ex partner’s victim impact statement was read in court, which went through the impact of the incident on her children who had previously looked up to the man as a fatherly figure. “At night my children often sit in silence, as if they are attached to the trauma of that night,” she said. She sustained a brain bleed and gave birth to the accused’s child days later. The woman said she feared how she would tell her newborn about what happened. She said she couldn’t remember anything of the incident, but often had scared and vivid dreams. The court heard the woman’s mother carried fear and heartbreak with her following the assault which left her shattered. “I could not protect her… it tore something deep inside me,” her statement read. “Watching those children flee unprotected while we laid there broke my heart in ways I can’t describe.” Defence counsel Stephanie Howson didn’t object to the terrible offending, but said her client had made significant steps in drug and alcohol rehabilitation that diffused the need for time in custody. “This is just the start of a long journey of recovery ahead,” she said. Ms Howson said her client had accepted he had lost the opportunity to have a relationship with his newborn child and intended to relocate to the Wallan area. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Ramadan Hamidon said a jail term for the accused would be just punishment and would meet general deterrence due to the violent nature of the offending. Magistrate Ian Watkins adjourned the matter to 13 February in order to obtain a psychology report. Magistrate Watkins said the man could have killed his unborn child in the attack. FAMILY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT SERVICES: If you need help immediately, call emergency services on Triple Zero. - 1800Respect: 1800 737 732 - Women's Crisis Line: 1800 811 811 - Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491 - The Kids Helpline: 24-hour support on 1800 55 1800 - Lifeline: 131 114
