By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A SPRINGVALE South man who has denied allegedly punching his pregnant wife in the stomach and threatening to kill the in-utero baby has been remanded in custody.
At a court bail hearing on Monday, the 25-year-old was claimed to have told his wife in front of two of her children at their home on 7 July that: “I am going to kill this baby.
“I am not leaving until this baby is dead.”
He then allegedly punched her several times in the stomach, causing the victim to fall over in pain, police informant Detective Senior Constable Bree Jarvis told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
Under cross-examination Sen Const Jarvis conceded there was no medical evidence that the victim miscarried or any visible bruising to the victim’s stomach.
The strikes to the wife’s stomach were, however, corroborated by her two young children.
The man denied the most serious of nine charges including threatening to inflict serious injury, false imprisonment and intentionally causing injury.
He was also charged with breaching a family violence intervention order and resisting police.
Police informant Sen Const Jarvis said the apparently sober applicant kicked out at police and urinated on the interview room floor.
She said the man – who had previously breached different intervention orders eight times – allegedly told police that he thought women were worthless and could be replaced.
The wife had earlier directed the applicant to leave the house or she would call police after he had allegedly driven and crashed her car after drinking the previous night, Sen Const Jarvis said.
The applicant allegedly told the victim that morning that it was a “free country” and “I am an Australian citizen and I can drink and drive”.
Days earlier, he had been disqualified from driving for four years for repeat drink-driving and unlicensed driving.
During the argument, the applicant allegedly punched his wife on the chin, bit her ear lobe, and broke her phone as she tried to call triple zero.
As she tried to escape, he allegedly grabbed her by the throat, dragged her to the bedroom and pinned her face-down on the mattress as she pleaded for her life.
The applicant chased two of his step-children, covered their mouths and dragged them into the bedroom after the wife told them to get help from their neighbours.
“(The wife) is extremely fearful,” Sen Const Jarvis said.
“He appears to have no regard for the law.”
Defence lawyer Patricia Jones urged the court to take into account the man’s registered intellectual disability, his consent to a full intervention order to protect the wife and his 14 days in custody since the incident.
Ms Jones said it was “unwarranted” for the applicant to remain in custody until the matter went to a contest hearing.
She said the wife had also raised a claim of violence in 2014, which led to police laying and then dropping charges against her and the applicant.
“There’s some real doubt as to the strength of the police case,” she said – having also aired misgivings about the wife’s lack of visible injuries.
Magistrate Greg Connellan said he was concerned for the wife, the impact on the children and by the man’s “attitude in some parts”.
Mr Connellan, in adjourning the bail hearing, said he needed more information on the man’s disability as well as to examine the children’s statements.
“The evidence against (the applicant) is highly contested by him and in some ways is a bit unclear.
“I have to give considerable weight to what’s in the children’s statements and in part to their mother’s concerns if they can safely return home if (the applicant) is in the community.”
The man was remanded in custody to appear in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 11 August.
