A former psychiatric nurse who subjected his partner to nearly a decade of horrific domestic violence has been jailed for longer than his reign of terror lasted.
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The 44-year-old Canberra man, who is not being named in order to protect the victim's identity, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court last week to 10 years and eight months behind bars.
He must serve a minimum of five years and eight months before becoming eligible for parole.
The offender, who pleaded guilty to 30 charges, met his now former wife in 2000 and had two children with her.
In sentencing the man, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said his horrific abuse only came to light when the victim asked police about obtaining a family violence order.
Investigators ultimately discovered offending that spanned nine years, beginning in 2011.
Graphic details of the offender's crimes, recited by Ms Walker at the sentencing, stretch across 10 A4 pages in a court transcript.
The man's offending included slicing his partner's forehead with a knife while making her watch an explicit video, injecting her with a substance she believed to be methamphetamine, and choking her unconscious with the tie from her dressing gown.
Among other despicable acts, he also slammed her head into a wall, kicked her while forcing her to sleep in a garage "like the dog", and forced her to shave her head to "make her so ugly no one would want her".
In one of the most serious offences, he emailed sexually explicit images of the victim to her family, friends and work colleagues, telling her he had done this "to show everyone who you really are".
He was remanded in custody after some of the matters were reported, and from jail he made multiple attempts to pervert the course of justice by contacting the victim and asking her to withdraw complaints against him.
Despite the man's guilty pleas, Ms Walker said he had not demonstrated any genuine remorse or acceptance of responsibility for his behaviour.
The magistrate said the 44-year-old had even gone so far as to demonstrate "callous disregard" for the impact of his conduct on the victim and their now teenage children.
The man sought to blame the victim for many of his reprehensible actions. In one nasty email from jail, he called his family "users" and expressed dismay at being "dropped like a bag of potatoes".
"Have a good life on your podiums," he told the family in that malicious missive.
Ms Walker recognised the significant impact of the man's offending on his family, noting that the victim had told the court of her ongoing fear that the 44-year-old would one day kill her.
"[Her] statement details a life lived in fear ... concerned to hide the physical signs of abuse from others and the need to shield her children from what was happening to her," Ms Walker said.
"Despite her efforts to do so, the victim notes that her children have been traumatised by their father's offending."
In the woman's victim impact statement, she said: "Every day I felt like I was walking on eggshells, never knowing what would be thrown at me, fists or words, or expectations."
The woman said her estranged husband had vowed that, if he were to ever land in jail, he'd "play the game", say the right things, serve his time, and come after her when she least expected it.
"[Promises] were made to me over and over again ... [that] when I'm happy ... the last thing I would see would be his face as I'm tortured and my life ended," the woman said.
"Cutting me down in the street, or taking me out [into] the bush to torture me, string me up to a tree and skin me alive, or slaughter me in my bed, or take my life in a graphic way that would put us in the news."
Ms Walker said the offender had mental health issues, but they did not significantly reduce his moral culpability.
She ultimately imposed the lengthy jail sentence and backdated it in recognition of time already served on remand.
The offender will become eligible for parole in June 2025.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed through Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978, Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, beyondblue on 1300 224 636, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, and the Domestic Violence Crisis Service on 6280 0900.
