The 42-year-old Katamatite man pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to two counts of making a threat to kill, two counts of unlawful assault, false imprisonment, intentionally destroying property, intentionally causing injury, two counts of choking and two counts of driving while disqualified.
He has been sentenced to six months in prison, to be followed by a community corrections order.
The court was told the man kept the woman at the house for four hours while intermittently assaulting her, including throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the eye on December 23 last year.
To stop the woman from escaping, the man drilled tek screws into every house window and door frame so they couldn’t be opened.
He also told the woman: “I’m going to kill you. You’re leaving in a body bag.”
The woman told police the man hit her and repeatedly choked her until she passed out every time she tried to leave.
On her last attempt to leave the house, he pushed her head into the metal tracks of the sliding door and she lost consciousness.
After the assault, he sent several text messages to people telling them she had broken into his house and injured herself.
The following day, the man took the woman on a motorbike ride with him where he drove recklessly at high speed with the intention of scaring or intimidating her.
On Christmas Day, he again got her to go on a motorbike ride with him while he was drug- and alcohol-affected, riding into bushland near Burramine.
While they rode, he punched the woman in the head, before stopping and again strangling her, saying “no-one’s going to hear you”.
While riding, he pushed her off the motorbike while they were travelling at 40km/h and she ran off into the bush and hid, before he eventually left without her.
The court heard when police spoke to him the next day, he tried to act like he was the victim and that she had jumped off the back of his motorbike and run away, and made up a story that she was erratic, a drug user and had mental health issues.
He also told police he had barricaded the house before December 23 because things were being stolen.
The court was told on a separate occasion, in August 2024, the man threw the woman against kitchen cabinets, before throwing her on to concrete ground.
The court also heard that in April 2024, he threatened a different woman with a tomahawk after she would not give him a cigarette because she didn’t have any.
He then choked her, before she was able to escape.
The man’s defence counsel said the offending had occurred when his client relapsed into drug use while in a relationship where drug use was prevalent.
He said the man disclosed “disturbing” incidents from when he was in custody when he was 20 to a psychologist and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The defence counsel said the psychologist said this may be the reason for the man’s continued drug use; however, he conceded the man’s drug use had started before then.
The defence counsel argued that the 105 days his client had already spent in custody in pre-sentence detention was long enough and asked that he be released on a community corrections order.
While agreeing he could receive a sentence that combined prison and a corrections order, magistrate Olivia Trumble disagreed that he had spent enough time in custody, saying the offending was “extremely serious”.
“There are multiple incidents of violence against partners,” she said.
The man was sentenced to six months in prison, to be followed by a 15-month community corrections order.
The 105 days the man has spent in pre-sentence detention will count as time already served.
Under the corrections order, the man will have to undergo treatment and rehabilitation for drug abuse and mental health issues, as well as complete offender behaviour programs such as the men’s behaviour change program and programs that address anger issues.
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