Punched repeatedly, pushed to the ground, slammed into a fence.
CCTV footage of Chloe Wright’s assault at the hands of her then-partner, Guy Cramp, makes for confronting viewing.
It is even harder to watch knowing Cramp is cradling the couple’s nine-week-old baby throughout the unprovoked attack.
But for Wright, the physical violence wasn’t the worst part of the ordeal. It was the moment a magistrate granted her attacker bail despite him pleading guilty to the assault.
A 15-year history of violence
The man who broke Wright’s nose and fractured her cheekbone is no stranger to the courts.
Cramp, a serial domestic violence offender, has a criminal history spanning 15 years.
He has been convicted of assaulting two other women, attacking taxi drivers, and has been charged with the assault of two police officers.
His record is littered with bail breaches, ignored restraining orders, and a conviction for tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.
In November, he turned that violence on Wright outside her home in Stratton, in Perth’s east.
Cramp pleaded guilty to the assault in January. With the footage and photos of her injuries recorded as evidence, Wright thought she was finally safe.
Wright has spoken out to this masthead, and shared CCTV of the harrowing incident, to bring attention to the challenges domestic violence victims face as their cases progress through the courts.
‘No conditions’ could mitigate risk: prosecutors
Magistrate Paul Lyons granted Cramp bail on February 19, despite prosecutors voicing “significant concerns” about his history.
That history included breaching family violence restraining orders, suspended sentences and bail, aggravated robbery and unlawful damage convictions, and alleged prior violence against police and the public.
The court also heard claims Cramp was a candidate for the serial domestic violence offenders’ register.
Prosecutors argued “no conditions” could mitigate the risk he posed to Wright and the community.
The court was also told that at the time he bashed Wright, Cramp was already on bail after being accused of assaulting two police officers. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, and was due to face trial in Midland Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Days before the assault on Wright, he had been released from prison after serving a stint for bashing a taxi driver over a $20 fare.
“I was just in disbelief,” Wright told this masthead.
“How is that possible? When someone has pleaded guilty to something as serious as that? I don’t understand.”
A knock at the door and an overseas flight
The decision sent Wright into turmoil. Fearing for her life, the 30-year-old mother-of-three fled the country. She was convinced Cramp would find her if she stayed.
“I feel that he has more motivation and anger towards me,” Wright told this masthead.
Wright only learned of Cramp’s release via a text message from the WA government’s Family Violence Service.
The Department of Communities’ child protection unit immediately arranged for her and her children to be placed into emergency accommodation and helped her flee the country.
Cramp was banned from Wright’s suburb and her children’s school, and has to wear an ankle monitor and report to Joondalup Police Station twice a week, but the conditions offered her little comfort.
“I can’t even go to Woolworths. It doesn’t even cover my local shopping centre,” she said.
“I’ve gone and gotten help, but I feel more vulnerable now than I ever did before.”
The path to liberty
The magistrate’s decision hinged on a report that deemed Cramp “marginally” suitable for a domestic violence offenders program – a course that cannot be completed behind bars.
This, the court decided, constituted the “exceptional circumstances” required to grant bail to a violent offender.
Cramp used the hearing to plead for a chance at redemption.
“I’m at the point in my life where I can’t do this any more,” he told the court last month.
“I have a son now … I want to be a better man so that he can look at me in the future and be proud of me.”
For now, Cramp is living at his parents’ rural property in Bullsbrook. He was required to post a $1000 personal undertaking and a $1000 surety.
While he continues his life in the community, Wright is left to rebuild her life from an undisclosed location abroad.
“He’s been given everything, and we’re left to pick up the pieces,” she said.
Cramp will be sentenced for the assault on Wright on April 16.
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