January 23, 2014
A 21-year-old man was today sentenced to jail after pleading guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates Court to assaulting his wife and injuring his two-year-old daughter.
The man also admitted threatening the woman with a taser and a syringe.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall said the two charges of assault occasioning bodily harm were very serious and “high end” assaults.
The child had suffered bruising under the eye and earlobe after she was punched while being held in her mother’s arms.
The woman had bruises across her body, on her arms and legs and lacerations to her mouth.
Mr Bucknall said the assaults had occurred over a lengthy period of time and the taser had no doubt terrified the woman.
“I can’t think of a more serious set of circumstances for a domestic assault,” Mr Bucknall said.
He said the man was very lucky that a weapons charge – unlawful possession of the taser – had been downgraded by police otherwise he would have been facing a mandatory two-year jail sentence.
The man also faced charges of stealing, driving an uninsured and unregistered vehicle, unlicensed driving, obstructing police, breaching bail, disqualified driving, failing to stop, and failing to take reasonable care with a syringe.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell said police had tried to intercept the man when he was driving a vehicle, which at the time they believed to have been stolen, but the man drove around the police vehicle and accelerated away at speed.
The man was fined $600 and disqualified from driving for a total of four years on the traffic charges.
On the other charges, he was sentenced to a total of 21 months imprisonment.
Mr Bucknall fixed a parole release date of July 22.
Charges of deprivation of liberty and unlawful use of a motor vehicle were withdrawn at an earlier hearing.
