A person, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Shepparton County Court to aggravated burglary and criminal damage, as well as summary charges of aggravated assault of a female and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Court documents show the transgender person messaged the woman on February 14 about some money they believed she owed them, telling the woman “if you don’t fix what you owe me then I’ll f*** you up”.
The woman told the person she had already paid them the $50 she owed them.
Soon after the exchange of messages, the person caught a taxi to the woman’s house, and once there, banged on the door, yelling, before ripping open her security door and partially pulling off the screen.
They then kicked in her front wooden door to get inside the house, where they punched the woman in the head, chest and arms multiple times, before leaving.
A CCTV video from the front of the house played to the court, showed the entire incident lasted about one minute and 20 seconds, including the person being inside the house for just under 20 seconds.
Speaking in court, the person said that after watching the video they had put themselves “in the victim’s shoes and it wasn’t the right thing to do”.
They said there were “other things going on” and they “shouldn’t have taken it out on” the woman.
When questioned about their drug use, the person told the court they had started using cannabis when they were 14, and other drugs at the age of 20.
They had stepped up their drug use again at the age of 28, and they had been using drugs at the time of the incident.
The court heard the accused had been sentenced to community corrections orders three times previously, and had not completed any of them.
The person’s defence barrister Thibaut Clamart, however, urged the judge to sentence his client to a combination sentence – that included a prison sentence, followed by a community corrections order.
The prosecutor told the court that he conceded that if the incident was looked at in isolation a combination sentence could be made; however, he said that when it was combined with the person’s criminal history and non-compliance with other orders, he urged the judge to jail them and set a non-parole period.
Judge Michael Cahill ordered a community corrections assessment be done before the next court appearance, but said it was not an indication of what sentence he would impose.
“It’s only to enable me to consider the options,” he said.
“Your offending is very serious. Aggravated burglary is a serious crime.”
Judge Cahill also described the incident as “a very violent confrontation and very aggressive”.
The person was further remanded in custody at the end of their court appearance and they will return to court later in October for further submissions from the prosecution and defence.
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