By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 67-year-old Springvale South man pleaded guilty to beating his wife and then flushing her phone and bank cards down the toilet.
It started with an argument over the retiree agreeing to lend $5000 to his nephew by withdrawing from the couple’s mortgage on the afternoon of 1 July.
“He informed the victim he could kill her and he was prepared to go to jail for that,” prosecutor Senior Constable Jaimie Jeffs told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 3 July.
The man, who denied ever hitting his wife in their 25 years of marriage, tried to punch her in the face.
She blocked his strikes with her arm, but dropped her $800 phone.
The man picked up the phone, threw it on the ground and stomped on it.
He then flushed it, together with attached pension and bank cards and drivers’ licence, down the toilet, Sen Const Jeffs said.
That day, he was arrested, admitted flushing the phone and was released from Springvale Police Station on a family violence safety notice barring him from the couple’s home.
Five minutes later, police arrested the man back at the house. He resisted arrest, kicking an officer and was taken to ground by her colleague.
He told police he returned to the house because he didn’t agree with the order, the court heard.
A defence lawyer told the court that the former South Vietnamese soldier had needed to pick up liver and gastro-intestinal medication from the house.
“If he doesn’t take the medication he has symptoms of Alzheimer’s, which may be a hint why this incident has occurred now – with no prior issues with his family.
“There was an argument with a tussle with his wife, without wanting to downplay it.
“He says he threw the phone in the gutter (outside).”
Magistrate Barry Schultz noted the man had the “unpleasant experience” of two days in custody since his arrest.
The man had otherwise been a law-abiding citizen, Mr Schultz said.
The accused was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and ordered to donate $250 to Police Legacy for resisting arrest.
The family-violence order was amended to allow him to return to the home but not to commit family violence or damage property.
