By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A JUDGE has told a Dandenong family violence victim not to blame herself after she was bashed during an argument over how to remove ice blocks from an ice tray.
The wife refused to submit a victim impact statement against her abusive husband of 15 years, telling Dandenong Magistrates’ Court she played a part in the dispute.
“There is never any fault on the victim of family violence,” Ms Spencer told the victim on 9 January.
“There is never any justification for someone using violence against a wife.”
Three days earlier, an argument started after the man told the victim she was not taking ice out of the ice tray properly.
The accused struck her with an open hand multiple times, causing bruising and swelling to her face, police told the court.
In an attempt to stop the man, the victim tried to strangle him. The man wrenched back the woman’s hand, causing her extreme pain.
The couple’s four children stepped in to stop the assault; one of the daughters had been assaulted by the accused last year resulting in an intervention order, the court heard.
The accused pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and contravening the daughter’s intervention order by committing family violence in front of her.
Ms Spencer said the children would be permanently harmed by witnessing the assault, and the man had “dishonoured” himself as a person, husband and father.
“It’s a fundamental right of everyone that they feel safe in their own home,” Ms Spencer told the accused.
“A relationship is a trust between people, a sacred trust, and you have failed to keep (your wife) safe.”
She noted the man – who arrived with his family as a refugee two years ago – had been remanded in custody for three days as a result of the incident.
The man was placed on a community corrections order with community work and programs to stop his re-offending.
He was served an intervention order not to go within 100 metres of the family home.
