ALEXANDER Brown suffers bipolar disorder and claims he “flipped out” in a sustained and serious attack on his de facto partner at North Albury in June.
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Brown, who smokes a couple of grams of cannabis daily, was at the time on a community corrections order imposed in March in Victoria on a charge of reckless conduct causing injury to his partner of 15 months.
But his previous court appearance failed to curb his anger and aggression which caused his partner to vomit after she was choked.
Brown, 19, of Wodonga, pushed her so hard on to a bed that she was forced through slats and went to the floor.
He appeared in Albury Local Court yesterday for sentencing on a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after previously declining an assessment for a community service order.
Magistrate Tony Murray said he believed a community service order did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the matter.
“Cannabis is not an innocent drug and far, far from it,” Mr Murray told Brown when sentencing him to an eight-month jail term, with a minimum period of three months.
Brown lodged a severity appeal against the penalty.
Mr Murray had been told the victim has moved to Queensland and wants nothing to do with Brown unless he does something about his anger and cannabis issues.
A 12-month apprehended violence order had previously been imposed in July.
Solicitor James Sloan said Brown’s bipolar condition was probably made worse by his cannabis use.
His attack on his partner started about 9pm on June 8 after they argued at a Corella Street residence.
He dragged her by the hair from a bed, she screamed in pain and said: “Leave me alone, don’t hurt me.”
Brown pushed her in the chest on to a bed causing the slats to break and the victim ran from the house.
She sat in the front yard crying, yelled for help and Brown grabbed her by the hair attempting to drag her towards the house.
The victim broke free and tried to run, but was grabbed around the throat and struggled to breathe.
Brown started to let go and the victim tried to run so he grabbed her around the neck and dragged her to the porch.
When she resisted going inside Brown grabbed her throat.
Soon after she escaped and contacted police.
