By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A 47-YEAR-OLD ice-using mother of three has been barred from her ex-husband and children’s Noble Park North home after throwing rocks through a front window and making a threat to kill.
Dandenong Magistrates’ Court handed down intervention orders banning her from having contact with the husband of 19 years and two of her children after the incident on 17 April.
The day after the incident, police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Glenn Horman told the court that during an argument, the woman was accused by her husband of hanging out with drug-dealers – though she claimed a friend had rung drug dealers using her phone.
She claimed the man grabbed her by the throat and choked her causing her to briefly pass out, though there were no visible injuries.
Later that day, the woman allegedly returned to the house where a friend of her adult-aged son told her to leave.
She threw the rocks through the windows and tried to climb into the house through a broken window to attack him.
Concerned about her harming herself, the son carried her out the front gate.
She told him: “I’ll shoot you up or I’ll shoot the house up.”
The accused later told police she’d got upset because she’d been called a drug dealer, the court heard.
A defence lawyer said the woman, who had been using ice for the past eight years, was drug-affected at the time.
She had left home at an early age, started infrequently smoking cannabis at 13 and used ice sporadically, the lawyer said.
There had been 19 reported family violence incidents at the home, the court was told.
The accused had allegedly been a victim of physical violence and controlling behaviour at the hands of her husband. She’d nevertheless stayed to keep the family together as the children grew up, the lawyer said.
Barred from the home, the woman had been referred to emergency housing services.
“I don’t know if there’s any simple solution for that, currently,” the lawyer said.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said homelessness services in the Dandenong area weren’t perfect but couldn’t justify keeping the woman in custody.
“(The services) have been part of the problem. But if people are willing to engage they can help you.”
Mr Vandersteen said the woman had no relevant prior history – her offending mainly occurred in the 1980s.
“I can see from the way you present at court that you need assistance.”
The accused was put on a 12-month treatment-only community corrections order.
