By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A wife allegedly bashed and strangled by her ex-husband over a three-day period has declined to give evidence against him, a bail hearing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.
She also supported the dropping of charges including assault, threat to kill and persistent breaching of a family violence intervention order, as well as her alleged perpetrator’s immediate release on bail.
The man has denied the allegations.
Acoording to police, the man had threatened her with a knife at Dandenong Oasis swimming pool, as well as in her own home.
He’d also woke her up in her own home at 1.30am – in breach of an intervention order, the court heard.
On 9 June, amidst another argument, the man allegedly slapped the victim’s face and dragged her around the house.
He started “poking” a knife around her chest area, confiscated her phone and dragged her out to his car, the court was told.
As he drove, he choked her and threatened to kill her or her family as well as to commit self-harm, police alleged.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen refused bail, despite accepting a defence lawyer’s submission that there were “compelling reasons” for the man’s release.
“It comes down to this. I’m not comfortable in releasing you on bail. I’m not confident that the risk of you reoffending can be reduced to an acceptable level.”
He dismissed arguments that the prosecution case was weak.
“There is a sworn statement (by the wife). It is cogent. The allegations in it are serious.
“It is in the back-drop of there being arguments over a dowry and an allegation of an assault on 11 March.
“There have been further assaults, if not an escalation, by you on 7 June, 8 June, 9 June and 15 June.”
Mr Vandersteen rejected the two addresses suggested for bail – either in Endeavour Hills or with a sister in Western Australia – as unsuitable “in the absence of any evidence”.
“Even if the evidence was before the court, it does not reduce the risk of you reoffending against your ex-wife.”
A defence lawyer argued that the allegations relied entirely on the wife’s evidence. She had since made a ‘no-complaint’ statement that she was yet to sign, the lawyer said.
There was no corroborative evidence of injury, no CCTV or independent witnesses despite the allegations being set in “numerous public locations”, the court heard.
Two other witnesses also refused to give a police statement.
The 30-year-old accused had no prior history, was well-educated as a maritime electrical engineer and was recently diagnosed with diabetes and depression, the court heard.
Spending the past six weeks in remand, the accused sat in the dock with an interpreter. He was a vulnerable prisoner due to language barriers, the lawyer told the court.
Police had opposed bail due to the man being an unacceptable risk to his ex-partner. A prosecutor conceded its case had “some evidentiary issues”.
The man was remanded to appear at a contest hearing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 21 August.
