A Greater Dandenong man who kept an ex-partner captive in her own home during a terrifying, degrading ordeal has been jailed.
The man, 39 – not named in order to not identify the ex-partner – taunted his naked victim, strangled her unconscious with a large steel chain, and sent humiliating photos of her injuries to his mother.
He pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to aggravated burglary, false imprisonment and intentionally causing injury.
In sentencing on 9 September, Judge Angela Ellis denounced the “terrifying”, “depraved”, “reprehensible” and “degrading” conduct against the victim.
“In short the circumstances must have been entirely terrifying for her”.
The ex-partner, 33, had taken a shower about noon on 3 April 2024 when she discovered the man in her lounge room with the chain in his hand.
Still naked, she was ordered to sit in a massage chair and he padlocked the chain around her neck.
He told her to find a Persian singer within 30 minutes or he’d pluck her eyes out with tweezers.
She rang a venue three times, breaking down in tears before he choked her by pulling on the chain.
He struck her to the face, ordered her to ‘woof’ like a dog on the kitchen floor and interrogated her, telling her this is what Muslims do before they kill people.
At other points, he choked her unconscious, threatened to cause her “incredible pain”, headbutted her 10 times, struck her head with a broken broom.
He rambled about dead people under the floor, and people wanting to kill her.
He warned if she left, he’d pour hot water on his own face, in order to claim to police that she attacked him.
The man rang his mother in Iran, sending her two photos of his naked victim, her face marked with injuries and a chain around her neck.
His mother screamed, and called his initially reluctant friends in Melbourne to intervene.
They arrived about 5.40pm, allowing the victim to flee with clothing to her nearby stepfather’s house. She was taken to The Alfred hospital with multiple injuries.
The victim described a “profound” impact, now feeling unsafe in her own home and afflicted with nightmares, Judge Ellis said.
She reported nerve damage in her arms and hands as a result of strangulation.
The man fled with her phone and possessions. He was arrested in South Australia a week later.
Judge Ellis noted the man had previously breached a family violence protection order and assaulted the same victim in 2022 and 2024.
She took into account the man’s deprived and traumatic background – including being cruelly disciplined by his father and reportedly abused by other adults.
While in the Iranian army, he witnessed traumatic bombings and killings. And he was jailed for assaulting a superior and for taking part in protests.
After escaping on a boat from Indonesia 12 years ago, he was granted a Safe Haven visa in Australia.
At the time of offending, he had relapsed into psychosis with bizarre, persecutory beliefs. However, he was also taking illicit drugs while not complying with his medication, Judge Ellis noted.
Judge Ellis said his mental health was at risk of decline while imprisoned. The asylum-seeker also faced likely deportation as a result of his crime.
The man was jailed for five years and four months, including a three-year and eight-month non-parole period.
His term includes 516 days already served in pre-sentence remand.
