A woman was left bruised and in such extreme pain she lost control of her bowels after she attempted to leave her abusive boyfriend.
Hayden Andrew Evans pleaded guilty before Brisbane District Court on Monday to six offences, all of which related to the brutal, drawn-out assault of a woman at a Marsden property in December 2022.
Evans was discharged of five counts of rape and one count of torture after the prosecution elected to discontinue their case regarding these matters.
At his sentencing, the court was told the pair had met only months earlier, quickly entering into a domestic relationship.
However, the woman broke things off on November 30, 2022.
Evans asked the woman to talk following the break up, to which she agreed, but he became agitated when a message from another man appeared on the victim’s phone.
“He punched her to the head, the force knocked her backwards, she was fading in and out of consciousness,” Crown prosecutor Emily Coley said.
Evans’ barbaric assaults continued for the next three days.
The following night, after he and his friend called the woman a “slut”, Evans punched her in the head and ribs, causing her to black out.
Still undeterred, the next day, while driving in his car, Evans threatened the woman’s life.
“He asked her what he should do with her – whether he should kill her, or take her back, or take her to a property and put her in a hole,” Ms Coley said.
He then punched her repeatedly in the face.
“She was ailing and passing in and out of consciousness from that,” Ms Coley explained.
“She was also at that point feeling her right eye closing up.”
While still in the car, Evans used a baton to hit the woman in the knee; when she screamed in agony, he slapped her in the face and drew blood.
The pair returned to their shed property, Evans halting his abuse overnight only to erupt again the next morning.
“She woke up that morning, she could feel the injuries to her face,” Ms Coley said.
“The defendant also noticed them, it made him cry, he apologised, he gave her Panadol, but nevertheless he assaulted her again.
“He took the baton again, he swung it towards her head … it ended up striking her on the shin.
“That particular blow caused her so much pain that she urinated herself.”
He again struck her in the temple, knocking her out.
When she came to, Evans was on top of her, pushing her down onto the bed with his fingers around her throat.
The victim said she could not breathe, with Evans putting pressure on her throat, and she passed out again.
She woke the same day but pretended to be unconscious until Evans left the property before fleeing on foot in search of help.
The court was told Evans had a history of drug offending and was on parole and probation orders at the time of the assaults.
Defence barrister Charles Harris said Evans had struggled with methamphetamine abuse for a number of years.
“He began using methamphetamine to assist in performing at work,” Mr Harris said.
“What once began as an occasional thing, escalated to, at the time of the offences, an almost daily occurrences.
“He has instructed that since his incarceration (in 2022), he has been free from drug use … and he has expressed to me a strong desire, having had such a lengthy period away from it, to stop his use of methamphetamine.”
Mr Harris said Evans was supported by his family, even in the “face of serious allegations”, and hoped to pick up FIFO work once back in the community
Evans’ barrister argued his client had spent an unjust amount of time in custody due to court delays, having spent more than three years on remand.
“This is an exercise in balancing a just sentence with what I would describe as a disproportionate period of presentence custody,” Mr Harris said.
Mr Evans was sentenced on two counts each of assaults occasioning bodily harm while armed and common assault, and one count each of assaults occasioning bodily harm and choking in a domestic relationship.
All charges were classified as domestic violence offences.
Judge Tony Moynihan KC called the 29-year-old’s conduct “cruel” and sentenced him to four years imprisonment, to be suspended for an operational period of five years after taking into account Evans’ time in presentence custody.
A total of 1174 days of presentence custody was declared time already served on the sentence.
He was further ordered to serve 18 months probation in the community, with special conditions to comply with any medical, psychiatric or psychological directions.
