STATE OF TASMANIA v DYLAN BONNEY 18 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Bonney, you have pleaded guilty to one count of assault.
The crime was perpetrated on your partner on 22 February 2025. You and she had been in a significant relationship for three or four years but were living separately at the time. There were two children in the family, the daughter of the relationship aged two and your partner had a child aged six.
The crime occurred at the house where you were living at the time. The house was owned by a male friend, who lived there with his six year old child. The complainant was visiting with the children for a barbecue. You were all drinking alcohol, and you also smoked some marijuana. It is clear that you had consumed an excessive amount of alcohol and were intoxicated when you perpetrated this crime. The assault occurred during an argument between you and the complainant, on the outside deck of the house. Before you assaulted her, you told the complainant to take the children inside so that you could continue to argue without them witnessing it. As things turned out, they actually witnessed a sustained and very violent assault perpetrated by you on the complainant. The violence started after the complainant had either pushed or punched you. You retaliated by assaulting her. The assault consisted of head-butting her to the head with considerable force, punching her to the face, throwing her onto the deck on several occasions, wrestling with her on the deck and on at least one occasion applying pressure around her throat with your hands which restricted her breathing. You were initially charged with strangulation, but the prosecution did not proceed with this, charging you with assault instead. Accordingly, you are not to be sentenced on the basis that you had the requisite state of mind, but you still performed the physical action, which, of course, is a very dangerous thing to do. The complainant had to gouge your eyes to stop you, and this seemed to end the assault generally. You did express remorse immediately and waited for the police to arrive. You then engaged in an interview with police during which you again expressed remorse and made admissions of your conduct, to the extent of your recollection.
The complainant was taken by ambulance to hospital. She suffered a number of injuries including neck and head pain, swelling to both sides of her neck, a haematoma to her forehead, and bruising and abrasions on various parts of her body, including an abrasion on her top lip. The children witnessed all of this violence and were very upset by it. The two six year olds were interviewed by police. The complainant has provided an impact statement in which she describes significant ongoing psychological impact. She is particularly upset by the breach of trust inherent in your actions and is concerned about the longer term impact of this violence on her son, in particular. Everything she describes is what would be expected from a serious crime such as this.
You are 33 years of age. You have employment, although you are on unpaid leave at the moment. I assume that is related to these proceedings. Your childhood was marred by considerable family violence within the home both against your mother and you. There was also a history of excessive alcohol consumption on the part of your parents. The family circumstances meant that you had left home by the age of 14. Despite this, you completed education to year 10 and commenced an apprenticeship as a chef, although you did not complete this training. You were the subject of a serious assault in your early 20s. It seems clear that alcohol has been a significant problem for you. You do not have much in the way of prior convictions and in particular you do not have any criminal history involving violence or for family violence. Your only prior convictions are a small number of drug and driving offences. You indicated a plea of guilty as soon as it became clear that the charge would be assault, and the prosecution would not proceed with the more serious charge of strangulation. I accept that the plea is consistent with your expressed remorse, and it will also have considerable utilitarian benefit, particularly as it will avoid the need for the complainant or the children to give evidence against you.
Family violence is unacceptable in any circumstances. What you did to the complainant is particularly serious because of the extent of the violence and the fact that it was perpetrated in the presence and indeed within the view of the children. Your intoxication does not mitigate your conduct. On the contrary, it raises concerns about the potential for such conduct to occur again. Your counsel says that you have insight into this problem and have reduced your drinking considerably since committing this crime, but if your consumption of alcohol results in conduct such as this and brings you before the court for serious criminal conduct, then it follows that you have a serious problem with alcohol. I have not been told anything about you seeking help for this problem and I am cautious about your capacity to effectively deal with it in the longer term without some support.
In all the circumstances, the appropriate sentence is a term of imprisonment. However, having regard to your lack of prior convictions, your expressed remorse and your plea of guilty, I will suspend all of the sentence. This sentencing option will also enable me to provide for ongoing supervision as a condition of the sentence, with particular emphasis on addressing any propensity for violence manifested by this crime and to ensure that the alcohol problem is properly addressed.
Accordingly, the orders I make are as follows:
- You are convicted of the crime to which you have pleaded guilty;
- You are sentenced to a global term of 12 months imprisonment, all of which will be suspended for a period of 18 months on the following conditions:
- that you are not to commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during that period.
- that you will be subject to the supervision of a probation officer. You must comply with this condition for a period of 18 months. That period will commence from today. The Court notes that the conditions referred to in s 24 (5B) of the Sentencing Act apply to this condition. These include that you must report to a probation officer within three clear days of today. In addition to the core conditions the order shall also include the following special conditions:
(a) you must, during the operational period of the order,
- i attend educational and other programs as directed by the Court or a probation officer;
- ii submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer;
- iii undergo assessment and treatment for drug dependency as directed by a probation officer;
- iv submit to testing for drug use as directed by a probation officer;
- v undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol dependency as directed by a probation officer;
- vi submit to testing for alcohol use as directed by a probation officer;
- vii submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer;
- viii attend, participate in and complete the EQUIPS addiction program as directed; and
- ix attend, participate in and complete the EQUIPS aggression program as directed
- Pursuant to s 13A of the Family Violence Act, I direct that this crime be recorded on your criminal record as a family violence offence.
- Given that the Magistrates Court has recently made a family violence order, I will not make a further order in that regard.