By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A 57-year-old Dandenong North man who stood over and threatened to kill his wife with a kitchen knife was told by a judge to remain in police cells for four days of think time.
The wife fled in fear of her life from the house after the confrontation in 5 August – which was triggered by the drunken man not being able to find some papers, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.
While holding the 20-centimetre knife, the Polish-born university worker told her: “I’ll go to jail but you’ll die tonight.”
Soon after being arrested, the man returned to the house – in breach of a fresh full intervention order – and declared: “This is my home. This is my house.”
When police arrived, he escaped over the back fence, the court was told.
In the meantime, the wife got the home’s locks changed. The man returned and demanded the keys or he’d burn down the house.
The wife, who had been punched in the face by him after an alcohol-fuelled party in 2013, told police she was too afraid to return home.
The man pleaded guilty as charged, though initially denied to police that he had punched his wife or made the threats.
At the Monday 8 August hearing, the man’s lawyer argued the man had spent the previous two days in custody and would lose his job if not released immediately.
Magistrate Gerard Bryant said that was the price for “beating his wife and terrorising his family”.
Mr Bryant deferred sentencing the man until 12 August and told him he needed to be taught a lesson for his “breathtaking level of contempt”.
“I’m going to give you an opportunity to focus on your behaviour in the police cell till Friday.”
