Perth mining executive jailed for almost 20 years for terrorising wife in domestic violence, rape horror

A Perth mining executive has been handed a massive jail term for terrorising his wife with physical and ultimately sexual violence for more than a decade, some of it witnessed by their young son. After the pair sparked a romance in India, the man followed the woman to WA where she pursued a highly skilled and in-demand profession. But the relationship very quickly became volatile and abusive, WA District Court Judge Charlotte Wallace said in sentencing the man to a staggering jail term of 19 years and six months. The man, aged in his 30s — whose name is not being revealed to conceal the victim’s identity — first erupted when she went out with friends, including a male, to have a meal at a Nando’s restaurant. Festering in his fury and fuelling it with alcohol, he repeatedly phoned and sent a barrage of intimidating messages, demanding to know what she was doing — even insisting she send photos of the people she was with. When she got home, he pinned her down on a bed and slapped her across both sides of her face so hard, he split her bottom lip then choked her until a housemate intervened. Days later, he called her father to apologise and promised he would never do it again. But it wasn’t long before he attacked her outside a work function after she danced with a colleague, and the violence continued to escalate over the years. On one occasion, after he became extremely drunk at a dinner party, he repeatedly hit the side of her head and pulled some of her hair out of her scalp while she drove him home, having helped him into the backseat. Then there was a trip to regional WA, when he became enraged at her “stupid” choice of bed and breakfast accommodation after he blundered into another guest’s room. Once in the correct room, he slapped her, pulled her onto the bed and placed a hand over her mouth before she managed to break free, spending the night in their car parked across from the ocean. Another night after they went out for dinner and a waiter gave the woman a complementary chocolate, he frightened her so much by flying into another rage that she leapt out of their car at a red light. He chased her on foot, assaulted her and ripped her top, exposing her bra. “Oh my god, you’re disgusting. You’re showing off your undergarments. You like to show off yourself,” he said. There were more assaults after they had a son, including pushing the woman so her head struck a wall while the youngster clung to her leg. He punched holes in furniture, walls and doors, sometimes leaving holes. When she confronted him about flirty texts he sent to other women, he blamed her “imagination”. And when their child saw his father repeatedly kick his mother in the stomach, sit on her and punch her ribs, then slap her face — he tried to protect her, saying “no, Papa, no” and tried to pull his dad away. The offender pushed his son, making him fall over. The woman copped the blame when her brother chaired a mediation. “You would effectively gaslight her ... you would lie to your family members, informing them that it was, in fact, the victim who was the perpetrator of violence against you,” Judge Wallace said. After they separated, he charged into her home and raped her twice. Before he was arrested, there was one more attack, which their son again got caught up in. Judge Wallace said the man’s volatility, abuse and “fits of uncontrolled rage” were due to his insecurities, jealousy and need to exert control. “You sought to isolate her from others, particularly male friends, and you would erupt in the most benign circumstances,” the judge said. “You often told the victim not to tell people about the assaults and she felt reluctant to do so. “You would repeatedly apologise to the victim and she believed that you would improve over time. “She loved you and she had hoped that at some time the violence would stop.” Judge Wallace said the crimes had had a profound and lasting impact on the woman and their son. “The person who should have been my partner and protector, became the person responsible for the most traumatic experiences in my life,” the woman wrote in a statement to the court. “Living in that environment created constant anxiety and uncertainty. “Over time, this affected my confidence and sense of security. I began to feel increasingly isolated and uncertain about my own judgment.” Such descriptions were, unfortunately, routinely heard in the courts, Judge Wallace said. “The impacts infiltrate every facet of a victim’s life and are devastating in their erosion of the victim’s sense of self and safety,” she said. The man will be eligible for parole after serving 17 years and six months. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)