Threat to kill wife: Man walks free

By Shaun Inguanzo
A SPRINGVALE man who pleaded guilty to assaulting and threatening to kill his wife has been given a six-month corrections order and a $1000 fine.
Police prosecutor Cam Gould told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court that Springvale man Jamal Farhad, 34, had an altercation with his wife while driving home to their Springvale residence on 27 March.
He said Farhad struck his wife in her chest with his forearm and hit her in the face, causing a swollen eye.
Mr Gould said that upon arriving home Farhad slammed his wife’s head into the front door, forced her inside and made her wash ‘as part of a religious act’.
While his wife was washing, Farhad grabbed a pistol, before the pair later argued in the kitchen where he allegedly produced a knife, held it to his wife’s throat and stated a number of times he would kill her, the court was told.
Mr Gould said Farhad’s wife then fled through a bathroom window and ran to a neighbouring property, where she phoned police.
Farhad was later intercepted while driving by Springvale police station.
Farhad pleaded guilty to multiple charges of threats to kill, assault and firearms offences.
Defence lawyer David Starvaggi told the court while his client had a history of violence, none was directed towards his wife.
He said for a large part of Farhad’s adult life, he had been haunted by memories of his childhood in Afghanistan where he grew up during the Russian invasion and was sodomised and tortured by soldiers.
Magistrate Lionel Winton-Smith handed down a six-month intensive corrections order (ICO) on the charges relating to threats to kill and assault, and a $1000 fine for Farhad’s illegal possession of a firearm and related charges.
Farhad’s order means he could go to prison if he breaches the conditions, and he will have to attend a corrections centre and commit to 12 hours unpaid community work each week.