A Shepparton man threatened his wife with a knife while yelling “I’m going to kill you”, before driving his car at her and their four children after they fled from him.
The man pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to making a threat to kill, assault with a weapon, using a prohibited weapon, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, and driving as a learner driver without supervision.
The prosecution told the court the man lunged at his wife with a large double-edged bladed knife “in a threatening manner” after an argument about living arrangements on January 18.
The man yelled “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you”, the prosecutor said.
The couple’s four children were present during the argument, with one standing between their parents, while two others restrained the man as he continued to wrestle and push towards the woman while still holding the knife.
The woman and four children managed to run from the house, but the man got in his car and drove towards them, mounting the curb and stopping only 1.5m from one of them.
He then reversed his vehicle to follow his wife as she ran back towards their house.
She sought refuge behind a tree, and he parked the car as the woman and children fled to a neighbour’s house.
The police found the man inside his house, with the knife allegedly used in the incident in a clothing drawer.
The prosecutor said the man told police he had a knife, but it was a smaller one, and that it was all “a prank”.
Magistrate Victoria Campbell sentenced the man to 90 days in prison – with 85 days already served as he waited for his case to finalise in the court.
She also sentenced him to a two-year community corrections order that included 200 hours of community work.
The order will also include mental health treatment, and the man will have to do offending behaviour programs, including a safe driving course and a men’s behaviour program.
Ms Campbell said up to 65 hours he spent in programs could be counted as community work.
In sentencing the man, Ms Campbell said it was a “very nasty family violence incident” that was directed at his wife and children.
While the man’s wife was not physically injured in the attack, Ms Campbell said “the harm you’ve caused to your wife is profound”.
She accepted that the man’s defence counsel had said he had spent 18 hours in political discussions online before the incident and was in a “heightened” state.
The man was also fined $500 for being a learner driver who was driving without supervision.