A serial offender with a history of family violence who left his then-partner with facial scarring and impaired vision will spend at least 18 months in prison.
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The 34-year-old central Victorian resident already had previous convictions for violence against this woman and previous partners before his most recent attack in April 2019.
On April 14 last year, the man's partner woke him up after finding they had overslept, and an argument ensued.
The man flew into a rage, grabbed his partner by the neck and squeezed tightly, yelling, "Get the f**k out and don't f**king come back, you f**king mongrel".
While the woman was kneeling on the ground, he picked up a porcelain mug and threw it at her face with such force it shattered on impact.
Immediately, the woman felt pain, lost sight and lost her hearing.
She stumbled outside and screamed for help.
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The man left the property as other people helped his partner, who was taken to hospital by road before being airlifted to Melbourne for surgery.
She had porcelain fragments in her eye, an eye globe rupture, a cut on her forehead to the bone, and a cut to her eyelid.
The woman still has significant scarring and reported her long-distance and peripheral vision in her left eye was damaged.
In her victim impact statement, she said she had felt powerless and feared for her life, and continued to worry she would lose sight in her left eye completely as she aged.
Earlier this month, the man pleaded guilty in the County Court to recklessly causing injury.
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Judge Carolene Gwynn said the man's decision to throw the mug was made in a split-second and his foresight of the probability it would cause serious injury was momentary, but he "responded with rage out of all proportion".
She said the victim was entitled to feel safe in her own home.
The man himself was the victim of family violence as a child, Judge Gwynn noted, and psychologists reported he tended to be impulsive with poor judgement, and prone to outbursts of anger.
He had prior offences for recklessly causing injury, breaching intervention orders, threatening serious injury, property damage and assault for crimes against intimate partners and children.
Judge Gwynn sentenced the man to a maximum of two years and 10 months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Had he not pleaded guilty and been found so, he would have faced up to four years and three months in custody.
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