'Woman basher' in Bendigo domestic violence court case

Judge Geoff Chettle described the man, who is not being named to protect his victim, as a "violent" person who "regularly, grossly mistreats women".

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The County Court sitting in Bendigo heard the 50-year-old man, who has had dealings with the court system since 1994, had himself told a psychologist that he was "known in his community as a woman basher".

He had also told that psychologist that he did not know why he "punished" women the way he did.

The man had pleaded guilty to three counts of recklessly causing injury, and a charge each of contravening a family violence order intending to cause harm or fear, an aggravated burglary with a person present and a persistent contravention of a family violence order.

He has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison, and must serve three years and nine months non-parole.

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He has already served 381 days after his arrest on October 9, 2022, and his defence lawyer Nicholas Rolfe said he had been in Hopkins Correction Centre for his "own protection".

Judge Chettle asked, rhetorically, "They (other prisoners) take a dim view of people who beat women?"

To which Mr Rolfe said some prisoners took a "very dim" view to that behaviour which Judge Chettle then summarised as "belting a woman repeatedly".

The reckless injury charges the man faced related to three separate and violent incidents in March, June and October 2022, while the persistent contravention charge incorporated another violent act when the man had punched the woman and abused her in Big W in Echuca in October 2022.

The court heard, in March 2022, a passer-by had alerted police to the accused and his partner who were sitting in a damaged vehicle in Little River.

The member of the public had noticed bruises on the woman's face, which the victim later told police had been caused by an assault in Bendigo several days before.

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In June 2022, the court heard the man had punched the woman in an Echuca hotel after accusing her of seeing other people, which caused her eye to swell and bruise.

He was charged and bailed at the Echuca Police Station.

Then on October 7, 2022, the man sent the woman, who was in emergency accommodation, multiple abusive messages on her phone.

These included a threat that he would "come over there and kick your door in and drag you out by your hair".

The next day, on October 8, the accused was arguing with the woman in front of Big W in Echuca before he followed her around the store.

The court heard he was yelling abuse at the victim and then hit her in the face with his fist.

Later that evening - supported by two other men - the accused pushed his way into an Echuca hotel room where the woman and a friend were staying.

The woman told him to leave at the door but he continued to enter the room.

He proceeded to push her into a chair before choking her with his knee and hands.

She told him she could not breathe and he said, "I don't f***ing care" before he kicked her in the head "a few times".

The victim did not see the accused with a knife, despite his threats that he would stab her.

After she escaped the room and ran to reception, the accused pulled a knife from his pocket and walked towards the woman's male friend and said, "I am going to get you".

The accused then handed the knife to one of the two people who accompanied him and left the hotel.

The woman, in a victim impact statement, said she had been left with nightmares, frequent panic attacks, PTSD and anxiety.

She continued to deal with pain from injuries sustained in the assaults while she said her family no longer spoke to her as a result of the man's behaviour and she felt "isolated" and "unsafe".

She said her other relationships had also been impacted.

"I think all men are like him, even though I know that's not true," she said in the statement.

The man also pleaded guilty to summary charges including two counts of committing an indictable offence on bail, wilfully damaging property, two counts of contravening a family violence intervention order and contravening conduct conditions.

Living with bipolar and ADHD, he was described as "someone with a fairly settled background" and of "average intelligence".

Judge Chettle said he had shown some "general good judgment" but that "rapidly evaporated" when he was non-compliant with medication and used drugs such as methylamphetamine (ice) and amphetamine (speed).

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