Grandma pinned to fence post
22nd March 2010
http://www.qt.com.au/story/2010/03/22/grandma-pinned-to-fence-post/
AN IPSWICH man pinned his ex-wife’s mother to a fence post with his ute after being told he could not take his child.
Ipswich District Court heard the 41-year-old man – who had custody of his two children after an eight-year family law courts battle – arrived at his ex-mother-in-law’s home in October, 2008 to pick up his daughter.
But the grandmother – then aged 57 – told the man through a locked fence the six-year-old child did not want to leave.
Crown Prosecutor John Copley said the man, who cannot be named due to family law courts proceedings, demanded his child while sitting in the driver’s seat of his dual cab utility.
Mr Copley said the grandmother called police and handed her mobile over to the man who then became agitated and threw her phone on the ground.
The grandmother crawled through the fence to retrieve her phone but the man reversed and drove at her, knocking the woman onto the bonnet.
As the woman reached for her phone, the man again accelerated – pinning the 57-year-old to the pole.
The man’s daughter, who witnessed the horrifying incident, cried out: “Daddy is trying to kill my grandma, somebody please help her!”
The grandmother received bruising on her legs and arms as a result of the incident.
The man pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and was fined $5000 with no conviction recorded.
Defence barrister Bertram Curran said his client’s emotions had been running high on the day after years of disputes with his ex’s mother.
Mr Curran said the man, an electrician, had a fuzzy recollection of events and his actions were out of character as he had no criminal history.
Judge Gregory Koppenol said the events would have been very traumatic for the man’s six-year-old daughter.
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