STATE OF TASMANIA v JUSTIN STEVE BULGER 16 OCTOBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Justin Bulger, you plead guilty to five counts of assault and one count of destroying property. The crimes were committed on 2 February 2022 against your then partner. With respect, and to avoid any further trauma or embarrassment for her, I will refer to her as the complainant. You met in 2020 and by August 2021 you were regularly staying overnight at her home near Devonport. You were 34 and she was 40. She had a seven year old daughter from a previous relationship. Although you did not share finances, maintained separate principal residences and had no children together, you were regarded by yourselves and others as a couple. It is accepted that you were in a significant relationship.
Although there were five counts of assault on the indictment, they all relate to the same series of events on the evening of 2 February 2022. You were at home. You and the complainant went to bed at about 10.00 pm. Sometime later she woke to you repeatedly punching her arm, leg and stomach. While this was taking place you had her phone and were reading messages on it. You kept calling her abusive names. She attempted to remove herself from the bed but you pushed her back by pushing her face with the palm of your hand. You continued to read messages and resumed repeatedly punching her arm and leg. You slapped her face at least once before continuing an assault involving pushing her, kicking her leg and punching her legs and body many times. You eventually calmed down. You both went back to sleep, but the following morning you destroyed a sex aid which belonged to her.
The complainant left home for her work at 8.40 am. She attempted to conceal her bruises with make up or clothing. She immediately told her sister by phone what had happened. She was encouraged to go to the police but her immediate response was to try to forget about it. However she asked you to leave. She also made complaints to another sister, her employer and a friend. She did not make a formal complaint to the police until just over two months later, on 12 April 2022. You were arrested on 15 April 2022.
There is no victim impact statement, but that does not mean that there is no impact. Photographs taken at the time show a swollen lip and significant bruising to her legs and arm which could only have been the result of the application of considerable force.
You are now 38. I was given information about your personal circumstances by your counsel and in a pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer. You were raised in New South Wales in a close and supportive family, even though your parents separated when you were young. You have three children aged 10, 11 and 14 but they all live in New South Wales. You have no contact with two of them but maintain phone contact with the youngest. You were educated to the end of grade 10 and you were relatively industrious after leaving school. However, you have a considerable record for offences involving violence in New South Wales. In 2006, when you were 18, you were fined and ordered to perform community service for destroying property and assault. In 2011, when you were 23, you were given a suspended sentence for affray and three counts of assault, one occasioning actual bodily harm. In 2013 you were sentenced to imprisonment for more than three years for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. Finally, in 2018, you were sentenced to another term of imprisonment, this time 20 months in total, for recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and a firearm offence.
You came to Tasmania after having served that sentence to escape the bad influences in NSW, and to join your family, who were already here. Leaving aside these crimes there has been no further offending since 2017. You have lived in a rural town in northern Tasmania and you currently live there with your mother and father. She is elderly and in poor health and for the last three years you have assumed the role of her principal carer for which you receive a carers pension. You also help with your father’s care and look after the house. You have no significant physical health concerns and exercise regularly. You told the author of the pre-sentence report that you do not abuse drugs and alcohol. As to your mental health, there have been suggestions of PTSD, anxiety and depression, but not so as to mitigate your crimes. You are currently in the care of a general practitioner.
Although you were in a relationship with the complainant, you were suspicious that she may be seeing other men. On this night you saw messages which, to your mind, confirmed that this was so. However, it is inexcusable that your resorted to violence. Violence within relationships has long been recognised as a grave, insidious and all too prevalent problem within the community. There is a very strong need to condemn such violence and to impose sentences which reflect the need for punishment and deterrence, the aim being, as far as a court can achieve, to protect vulnerable complainants.
You were promptly committed to this Court on more serious charges to which you had pleaded not guilty. For reasons which have not been explained, but which are not attributable to you, no indictment was filed until 19 September 2025, three years later. Once indicted your counsel attempted without further delay to resolve the matter and the State has accepted your plea of guilty to these charges instead of those on the earlier indictment. As a result of your plea, a trial has been avoided. That carries a utilitarian benefit, indicates an acceptance of responsibility and means that the complainant does not have to face the additional trauma of having to prepare for a trial and give evidence, especially so long after the event. You quickly expressed regret to the complainant about what you had done. Without wishing to understate the seriousness of the multiple bruises the complainant suffered, which resulted from repeated blows, it is very fortunate that they were relatively transient. It was not suggested to me that her daughter was present. There is no victim impact statement, but there could be no doubt that these events must have been frightening and highly traumatising. You were immediately made subject to a full non-contact family violence order and strict bail conditions and there have been no breaches. In fact, you have not seen the complainant since that day. As I said earlier, there has been no further offending of any nature in the ensuing four and a half years. Ordinarily a sentence of imprisonment is required for family violence assaults of this nature. In this case I have decided that the various sentencing aims are sufficiently addressed by home detention, as an alternative to imprisonment. You have been assessed as suitable and your home is suitable. I will make an order which enables you to be absent for a few hours each day so as to allow you to attend counselling, scheduled case management, random urinalysis and to undertake exercise.
You are convicted on the indictment, counts 1 to 6 inclusive. In accordance with the Family Violence Act, s 13A, I direct that each offence be recorded on your criminal record as a family violence offence. I impose one sentence. I make a home detention order for 15 months. I specify the premises at which you are to reside during the operational period of the order as [home detention address] or such other addresses as may be approved by a probation officer. I order that you must attend the Community Corrections office at 111 Cameron Street, Launceston TAS, for induction onto this order following the court proceedings today, Friday, 16 October 2026 not later than 5.00pm. There will be conditions that during the operational period of the order:
- you must not commit an offence that is punishable by imprisonment;
- you must reside at the home detention premises;
- You must remain at the home detention premises at all times, except between 12 noon and 3pm, unless you are not on those premises because:
- you are travelling to or from, or are at, premises seeking urgent medical treatment or dental treatment; or
- it was necessary to leave the premises in order to avoid, or minimise a serious risk of, the death of, or injury to, you or another person; or
- with the approval, of a probation officer, or prescribed officer, given –
- so as to enable you to comply with a special condition; or
- so as to enable you to seek or engage in employment; or
- so as to enable you to attend an educational or training course or activity; or
- so as to enable you to attend a rehabilitative or re-integrative activity or program; or
- so as to enable you to attend a court; or
- for any other purpose approved by the probation officer or prescribed officer.
- you must permit a police officer, probation officer or prescribed officer to enter the home detention premises;
- you must permit a police officer to-
- conduct a search of the home detention premises; and
- conduct a frisk search, within the meaning of the Search Warrants Act 1997, of you, at the home detention premises or at any other place or premises; and
- take a sample of a substance found on the home detention premises or on you.
- you must comply with any reasonable and lawful directions of a probation officer or prescribed officer, including any directions as to the kind of employment, or the place of employment, of you;
- you must submit to electronic monitoring, including by wearing or carrying an electronic device and:
- you must not remove, tamper with, damage or interfere with the proper functioning of any electronic device or equipment used for the purpose of electronic monitoring;
- you must not allow anyone else to remove, tamper with, damage, disable or interfere with the proper functioning of any electronic device or equipment used for the purpose of electronic monitoring; and
- you must comply with all reasonable and lawful directions given to you in relation to the electronic monitoring, including in relation to the installation, attachment or operation of a device, or a system, used for the purposes of electronic monitoring by:
- a police officer;
- a probation officer or prescribed officer; or
- another person whose functions involve the installation or operation of a device, or a system, used for the purposes of electronic monitoring.
- You must, during the operational period of the order, maintain in operating condition an active mobile phone service, provide the contact details to Community Corrections and be accessible for contact through this device at all times.
- You must not, during the operational period of the order, take any illicit or prohibited substances. Illicit and prohibited substances include:
- any controlled drug as defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001.
- any medication containing an Opiate, Benzodiazepine, Bupropion, Hydrochloride or Pseudoephedrine, unless you provide written evidence from your medical professional that you have been prescribed the relevant medication.
- You must not, during the operational period of the order, consume alcohol and you must, if directed to do so by a police officer or Community Corrections officer submit to a breath test, urine test, or other test, for the presence of alcohol.
- You must submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by