JAMES Donald Bouteris couldn’t come up with an answer when asked why he had such a shocking history of violence.
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Magistrate Tony Murray said this was the most obvious aspect of the Albury man’s criminal history.
But instead of providing any sort of insight, Bouteris went off on a tangent about how was still trying to get legal aid funding for his case.
It was too late for that though when he fronted Albury Local Court on Tuesday.
Mr Murray was straight to the point – his job was to hand down a sentence over his violent attack on a woman.
Bouteris accepted he had pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm.
“Then I read what was in the paper (The Border Mail) and I wanted to plead not guilty,” he said.
Mr Murray was dismayed by Bouteris’s apparent total lack of insight into what his victim experienced.
Bouteris, of Thurgoona Street, was jailed for seven months, wholly suspended.
The seven-month suspension period must be served under a good behaviour bond.
The sentence applied also to a breach of bond related to an incident last year that led to him being charged with stalking or intimidation with the intention of creating fear of physical harm.
Bouteris spent time in jail last year over the matter, which involved him making death threats to a Corowa publican in March, 2014.
That led to him to being placed on a two-year bond, which include conditions relating to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Mr Murray said on Tuesday that it was clear Bouteris had long had problems with drug and alcohol addiction and anger management.
The latter was clearly apparent in Bouteris’s latest offending, which happened at the woman’s Lavington home on December 1.
Bouteris and the woman had not seen each other for 12 years.
They drank alcohol for several hours from 1.30pm, then the victim expressed her “disgust” at his swearing.
She asked him to leave and as he did so, Bouteris turned and pushed her in the chest.
Then he punched her face with his right fist, causing her to fall to her hands and knees, followed by another blow.
She ran outside and pleaded with neighbours to call the police, prompting Bouteris to make his getaway on a bike while shouting back at her “this isn’t over”.
The assault left the woman with a bloodied face and dark swelling around her eyes.
