STATE OF TASMANIA v SAMUEL BRADLEY POKE JAGO J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 28 MAY 2026
Samuel Bradley Poke, you have pleaded guilty to one count of persistent family violence. The violence occurred between on or about 25 July 2020 and on or about 21 July 2022, so a period of all but two years. Additionally, you have pleaded guilty to a number of related summary offences, being nine counts of breach family violence order and three counts of common assault, on complaint 52282/2022, and then a further nine counts of breach family violence order and one count of destroy property on complaint 52219/2022.
You and the complainant formed a significant relationship in mid-2019. You were 26, turning 27, when the relationship commenced. The complainant was aged 29. You lived together. You had a child together. That child was born in November 2020. I will refer to that child as “R” in these comments. The complainant also had children from a previous relationship; a son whom I shall refer to as “B”, who was born in November 2012, and a daughter whom I shall refer to as “W”, who was born in May 2014. Those two children also lived with you.
For much of the relationship, you perpetrated a course of serious family violence. You would regularly be verbally abusive towards the complainant, calling her several distasteful names, including “slut” and “cunt”. You would also call her children, aged 7 and 5, “fucking stupid little cunts”. You displayed jealous tendencies. You would threaten to kill the complainant and would tell her that you were going to get other people to kill her. You exercised control over her by doing things like taking her phone and hiding her car keys. You would break her belongings.
During the relationship, you were frequently affected by alcohol or methyl amphetamine. You would display loud and aggressive behaviours and seek to control and intimidate the complainant. Some of your behaviour was captured on a CCTV system that operated at your house. I have seen some of the footage. It is confronting and disturbing. You sought to emotionally manipulate the complainant by telling her that you would self-harm, and demanding she profess her love for you. You accused her of infidelity and demeaned and belittled her. On occasion, you used your son in an endeavour to emotionally hurt her. When the complainant was finally able to disclose the full extent of your behaviour, she described that she felt “trapped” in the relationship. She felt an obligation to support you because she was aware of difficulties stemming from your childhood and she felt sorry for you. She knew you had nowhere else to live and felt a responsibility to help you, given you were the father of her child. She described the relationship as a constant cycle of love and then tension, then abuse and violence, followed by contrition and then love. It is a cycle commonly seen in situations of family violence and is frequently one of the reasons why violence of this nature continues, often with impunity, for extended periods. Living on such tenterhooks must have been emotionally exhausting.
The State rely upon 16 specified occasions of family violence, in proving the persistent family violence charge, but those occasions are said to have occurred against a background of reasonably constant violent and intimidatory behaviour. Whilst there were undoubtedly some positive aspects to the relationship, overall, the complainant endured two years of your frequently violent behaviours. It is through that spectrum that the individual acts of family violence need to be assessed. Your behaviour had a cumulative effect upon the complainant, with each act of violent, abusive or threatening behaviour exacerbating the impact of the earlier behaviours and reinforcing a pattern of emotional and physical cruelty. I will sentence on the basis that the 16 identified occasions were not isolated occurrences.
It is also noteworthy that in November 2019, prior to the first identified occasion, a police family violence order had been issued; the obvious inference being that by at least that point, only about six months into the relationship, you were already displaying behaviours that warranted the issuing of such an order.
The first of the specified occasions is an assault. It occurred in the early hours of the morning of 26 July 2020. The evening before, you and the complainant had attended a social function. You became very intoxicated. At some point throughout the evening, you were arrested for using abusive language to police. You were later bailed by police. You returned to the home. You woke the complainant and the children. You were still intoxicated, and you were loud and aggressive. You would not listen to the complainant’s requests to quieten down, so she contacted police. They transported you to a residential rehabilitation facility, but it seems you did not stay there. You returned to the home approximately an hour later. You were still loud, aggressive and intoxicated. The complainant told you to “shut the fuck up”. As she was walking away from you, you punched her to the back of head, suddenly and without warning. It was a hard blow, although the complainant did not fall to the ground. She challenged you about having struck her whilst she was pregnant. She said she was going to police and that you would go to gaol. You started crying, you apologised and promised that you would never do it again. You also said that you would get help with your drinking.
The second occasion is constituted by an assault on a pregnant woman. It occurred on 15 November 2020. The day before, it had been B’s ninth birthday. You had attended the home on that day but had been asked to leave because you were under the influence of drugs. When you returned on 15 November, you demanded a money tin. This was a tin where the complainant kept savings for Christmas. As you went to take the tin, the complainant stood in front of it. She was 39 weeks’ pregnant at the time. You grabbed her with both hands around her waist and pulled her hard backwards, applying force to her pregnant stomach. She tried to fend you off. The pregnancy was a high-risk pregnancy, and the complainant had been diagnosed with a number of conditions, which increased the risk of internal bleeding and placental abruption. You knew the pregnancy was high risk, which made your actions in grabbing hold of her pregnant stomach and pulling hard, even more reprehensible.
Later that night, the complainant started bleeding and was experiencing considerable pain. She was scared as she believed the umbilical cord may have detached from the placenta. She was stressed and anxious. She conveyed a message to you via a friend, indicating she believed she was in labour. You transported the complainant to the hospital, and the child R was born shortly after arrival. The complainant did not report what you had done to hospital staff as she was too embarrassed. It is not uncommon that those who are subject to family violence protect the perpetrator because of shame and embarrassment. By declining to tell hospital staff exactly what had happened, she put her own health and well being, and that of the unborn baby, at risk. Whilst there is no medical evidence that links the assault to the birth of the child, you had no way of knowing what harm you might do through your violence, and significantly, the nature of the relationship was such that the complainant was not prepared or able to disclose what was truly happening, thereby potentially increasing the risk to her and the baby.
About a month after R’s birth, you again assaulted the complainant. This assault involved you pushing her, placing your hands around her neck and using your right hand to hold her down by the face. This is not one of the specified occasions relied upon. This matter was, in fact, dealt with as a common assault in the Magistrates Court. The relevance of it, however, is that from 25 January 2021, until the matter was dealt with in the Magistrates Court on 12 May 2021, you were subject to bail orders and had matters pending in Court. It seems that did little to deter you from ongoing violence.
The third specified occasion involved an assault. It occurred on Christmas day 2020. The complainant was upset because she had been thinking of her deceased mother. You became agitated with her and told her to “fucking get over it” because she was ruining the day. Later in the day, you, the complainant and the children travelled to see your family. On route, there was an argument in the car. The complainant rang her sister to request a ride. You stopped the car, opened the rear passenger door where the complainant was seated, and pulled her from the car by her hair. The complainant tried to hold onto a child’s car seat to prevent you from doing so, but was unsuccessful. After pulling her from the car, you punched her to the back of the head, before driving away, leaving her on the side of the highway. The children were still in the car. The complainant’s phone was still in the car. The complainant was left by the side of the road for about five minutes before you returned. Once again, you apologised to her, seeking to excuse your behaviour by claiming that you were tired.
On 18 January 2021, a further police family violence order was issued following an argument on 13 January 2021. This police family violence order prohibited you from entering any residence where the complainant was living or staying, and also prevented you from threatening, harassing, abusing or assaulting her. The issuing of this police family violence order seemed to make little difference to your ongoing behaviour.
The fourth occasion was constituted by an act of assault which occurred on 21 March 2021. You arrived at the complainant’s home, contrary to the provisions of the police family violence order. You were intoxicated to the point that you could not stand up straight. All three children were at home. You removed the baby R from his bouncer. Understandably, the complainant was concerned for the child’s safety, given your level of intoxication, and asked you to give her the child. You did that. You then demanded the complainant’s bankcard. She refused to give it to you. You struck her with a closed fist to her left eye. Her eye was bruised and badly swollen.
The complainant rang a friend to come and collect you. You left. You returned the following morning. When you saw the complainant’s eye, you apologised and became upset. You promised that it would not happen again, and you again promised to bring your drinking under control. You brought her flowers and sought to appease the situation. The complainant lied to others about how the injury had occurred in an endeavour to protect you, and because she was overwhelmed, scared and confused.
The fifth occasion also involved an assault. It occurred on 4 June 2021. The evening prior, you and the complainant had been at a social function with neighbours. The complainant had returned home earlier. You returned home later, and you were, once again, very intoxicated. The next morning, you were unable to go to work. You were advised that you had lost your job. You were agitated. You took it out on the complainant. You pushed her up against the fridge and grabbed her arms and shook her. You then kicked a window, causing the window frame to pop out. You threatened to kill yourself. You left the house. The complainant was concerned for your well being and contacted police. You were later arrested for breaching the police family violence order for being at her residence. You, in fact, breached the police family violence order by being at her residence on several occasions between 21 May and 4 June 2021. These breaches are the subject of several of the summary complaints to which you have pleaded guilty.
The sixth occasion occurred in July 2021. It is constituted by two separate acts of assault. You and the complainant were in Devonport. The complainant was driving the car, and the children were in the backseat. Whilst she was driving, you punched the complainant in her left leg. It must have been a relatively hard punch because her leg was left with a substantial bruise and it was sore. Once you got out of the car, you threw a drink of bubble tea at her.
The seventh occasion is constituted by the crime of strangulation. It occurred on 17 August 2021. The complainant was in the kitchen, preparing a meal. The two of you had been arguing. She had the child R, who at this point was about nine months of age, on her hip. As she was collecting an item from the pantry, you came up behind her and pushed her against the pantry door with two hands. You then grabbed her by the neck and squeezed. The complainant could not breathe. She was still holding on to the child. When you released her, she ran outside and called her father. When her father arrived, he observed red marks on her neck. Her father challenged you and said, “Why the fuck does she have red marks on her neck Sam?”. You broke down crying, saying “there’s something wrong with me…I don’t know why I do this”. The pressure you applied to the complainant’s neck must have been significant because not only did it leave obvious marks, but she had difficulty in swallowing for some days after the incident.
The eighth occasion involved an assault which occurred on 10 September 2021. There had been an argument during which you were verbally abusive towards the complainant. The complainant put the children into the car, intending to go to a friend’s house. As she was doing this, you came outside with the child R and also got into the car. She asked you to get out. You refused. Because the complainant did not feel safe, she drove to her friend’s house. You were in the car holding R, who was not in a capsule. On route, there was an argument. You accused the complainant of sleeping with a male friend. Whilst you were holding a phone, and she was driving, with all the children in the car, you punched her in the back of the head. The child W called out “I seen(sic) that”. You responded by saying to W, “You’ve seen nothing” and then struck the complainant a second time to the back of her head whilst still holding the phone. The complainant’s head was bleeding. By the time she arrived at the friend’s house, she was in considerable pain, and she vomited.
Throughout October and November 2021, there were several incidents, which are not relied upon as specific occasions, but which demonstrate your cruel and controlling behaviour. On 15 October 2021, the complainant was driving her vehicle home from Devonport. You were in the front passenger seat. R was in the vehicle. You yelled at the complainant for not driving fast enough. She told you that she was having suicidal ideations because of how you had been treating her. You told her that you would kill her, and you pulled on the handbrake of the vehicle. The vehicle initially veered out of control but fortunately the complainant was able to bring it back under control and pull the vehicle to the side of the highway. She was scared and frightened, both for herself and R. R was crying, so the complainant exited the car to attend to him. You took the opportunity to get into the driver’s seat and drove away, leaving the complainant on the side of the highway, with no phone and concerned as to R’s well being given your attitude and behaviour. She started walking. At one point, you pulled over and tried to get her into the car. She resisted this but was able to grab her phone. She called her father who came and removed you from the vehicle. The complainant returned home with the child. A few hours later, you again turned up, crying and apologising for your conduct.
On 7 November 2021, you entered the complainant’s home and threatened her by saying, “You’re fucking dead. You’re going to get your throat slit”, whilst making a slashing motion across your throat. All of this conduct was in contravention of the police family violence order. You were charged in respect to these breaching offences and dealt with in the Magistrates Court in November 2021. Your appearance in the Magistrates Court clearly did not incentivise you to reflect upon your behaviours and do something about your obvious difficulties with alcohol, anger and illicit substances.
On 25 November 2021, the Magistrates Court issued an interim family violence order. It contained the same conditions as the police family violence order that had been issued in January 2021, save that it permitted you to be at the complainant’s residence for portions of the day, provided you did not have any alcohol in your system.
The ninth occasion involved another crime of strangulation and an act of assault. It occurred on 14 January 2022. You were playing cricket that day. The complainant and the children, together with a friend of one of the children, were at your place. You were expected home for the evening meal. You did not arrive. The complainant tried to call you but received no answer. You eventually arrived home at about 8:00pm. By this time, the complainant was upset. You became agitated. In front of the children, you verbally abused the complainant, including calling her a “fucking stupid cunt”. All the children were present. She started to pack up, intending to leave. Whilst she was crouched down placing items into a bag, you grabbed her around the neck with your hand and lifted her up into a standing position. You squeezed her neck. The complainant was unable to breathe. As you lifted her up, her head tilted backwards. You then pulled her forwards in a forceful motion and headbutted her to the mouth. This caused her mouth to bleed. Eventually, the complainant was able to get away and ran to another room. It is not clear on the facts whether the children witnessed the violence, but they heard the verbal abuse, and you were willing to inflict this level of violence in circumstances where the children may well have observed it. You showed no regard for the impact it may have upon the children, including an unrelated friend. This speaks to the level of anger and loss of control you were exhibiting. The complainant was left with a sore neck and throat. The impact to her mouth was such that it loosened one of her teeth, causing it to move and leave a gap.
The tenth occasion involves an assault and occurred on 5 February 2022. You and the complainant were travelling to your cricket. A fuel stop was required. You became agitated about that. The complainant asked you if you would be able to pay for the fuel. You got upset and called her a “cunt”. When she had finished pumping the fuel, she leant into the passenger door where you were seated, to reach for her bankcard. You tried to shut the door and then spat saliva into her face. When the complainant went inside the store to pay for the fuel, she was crying. The shop assistant asked if she was okay and offered to call police. The complainant declined the assistance because she was confused and had no confidence. It seems police were nevertheless made aware of the situation, and they approached the complainant the following day. She declined to provide a statement.
On 17 February 2022, a final family violence order was made for a period of 12 months. It included conditions that you were not to stalk, threaten, abuse or assault the complainant, nor enter her residence with any alcohol in your system.
The 11th specified occasion is constituted by several acts of assault. It is on this occasion that the three counts of common assault to which you have pleaded guilty also occurred. On the evening of 27 March 2022, you and the complainant were both at home and there was a heated and prolonged argument. Much of what occurred was captured on CCTV footage. I have watched the footage. Your behaviour was emotionally manipulative, controlling, violent and cruel. On this evening, you arrived at the complainant’s home. You were drunk and seemingly affected by methyl amphetamine. You asked for a hug. The complainant told you to shower first. You got upset. Because R was present, the complainant asked you to be quiet. You responded by saying “I’ll fucking snap your fucking head in”. You also called the complainant “dumb” and at one point said that you wanted to die. The complainant said, “If you don’t want to be here, don’t be here, don’t just threaten it”. She then told you not to do anything in front of your son.
Shortly after this, in rather bizarre behaviour, you took your clothes off and you were standing naked near the back door. The complainant and R were in the same area. You collected a large knife from the kitchen. The complainant told you to put the knife back. You held the knife to your chest and asked the complainant whether you should stab yourself. She begged you not to because of the child. She took the child inside. You then persistently asked her if she loved you. You held the knife against your chest in a stabbing motion, taunting her by saying things like “Do you want me to stab myself…do you love me…do you love me”.
The complainant asked you several times to put the knife down. She walked inside and you followed. Shortly after, you came back outside and rather ironically, told the complainant that she was “carrying on like a fucking mutt”. You then called out to the child, asking for one last cuddle. You told the complainant that she should take the child inside and you were going to “go around there and cut myself. I’m going to go around there and die in the corner”. You handed the child to the complainant, picked up the knife walked off, out of the view of the camera. You were yelling whilst doing so.
At some point you must have returned, because the CCTV footage reveals a further incident. The complainant was sitting in a chair outside. You were standing over her. The child was in the area. You were saying things like “You’re a fucking cunt to me”. At one point, you knocked the child over. I accept this was not intentional, but the fact that you knocked the child to the ground, again speaks to your level of agitation, intoxication and loss of control. When the complainant tried to pick the child up, you pushed her away with a hand to her throat area. You then picked up the child. As the complainant walked away, you said to her “I’m going to fucking cave your head in”. The complainant went inside and ran to the bedroom. You chased after her, whilst you were carrying the child R. You cornered her between the bed and the tallboy in the bedroom. You grabbed her by the throat and forced her head back into the wall, causing a dent in the plaster. Eventually, you let her go and walked out of the bedroom. The complainant told you she was going to call the police. You responded by returning to the room and pushing her to the ground. You then started kicking her to her back and to the back of her legs. You were holding the child R whilst you were assaulting the complainant.
Indicative of the chaotic and manipulative nature of your behaviour this evening, about ten minutes later you approached the complainant and tried to hug her. She told you she did not want to be touched, did not love you and asked you to be careful not to knock the child over again. At that point, you shoved her to the left upper arm and said “thanks”. You again tried to hug her. She again said she did not wish to be touched. You grabbed her with both hands to her upper arms, and squeezed her upper arms. You then grabbed the front of the robe she was wearing, around the neck area, and pulled her sharply towards you.
About 15 minutes after that, the CCTV footage captures you saying to the complainant “I’m going to get someone, if we break up, to smash your head in…I wish I did, I wish I fucking did (this is a reference to an earlier argument about infidelity) after you telling me that shit…I’m going to get Woodsy’s missus to come and smash your fucking head in, you’re in trouble”.
The complainant challenged you and said, “You literally bashed me in front of my son, you punched me, you slammed my head”. You responded by threatening her, saying “You’re lucky I didn’t smash your fucking head in”. As you were saying this, you raised an outdoor chair above your head, gesturing as though you were going to throw it at her. You then challenged her further about allegations of infidelity in an aggressive and intimidatory manner.
Captured on the CCTV footage are a number of further threats that you uttered towards the complainant. Amongst other things you said:
- “I’m going to fucking bash your head in…You’re lucky I didn’t knock your fucking head off your shoulders for saying that”.
- “And I don’t feel bad about nothing I’ve done. Nah, not after you said that”. At this point you spat at the complainant.
You also said:
- “I’m going to spit on you…that’s fucking disgusting…you’re actually a fucking cunt of a thing…no wonder you’re fucking single and 32. Same as your sister, youse are both fucked…what’s wrong with you girls…I’m only just getting started”.
- “I’d love to hit you over the head right now with a fucking axe to be honest…this is fun…fuck you…fuck you”.
- “Fuck you, fuck you, go fuck yourself you fucking whore, fucking slut, you’re dead to me”.
The various threats you uttered constitute the offences of breaching family violence order. On this evening, you also punched the master bedroom door and caused damage to the front door.
The following day, when you were challenged about your behaviour, you said that it was not you, it was the alcohol talking. Understandably, by this stage the complainant was afraid and concerned. She tried to appease you by telling you not to worry about it.
The 12th occasion also involves an assault. It occurred on 30 April 2022. You and the complainant were visiting family members. When the complainant first arrived, you were not present. You arrived some time later. By the time you arrived, the complainant was upset. You became agitated and called her a “stupid cunt”. She went upstairs. You left the house for a period before returning. Upon returning, you went to the room where the complainant was breastfeeding the baby. You grabbed her by the neck and squeezed hard before letting go. Whilst this assault involved a relatively brief period of pressure to the neck, it nevertheless scared the complainant, and of course, is aggravated by the fact that the violence was inflicted whilst she was feeding the baby. It is of great concern that your violence was frequently perpetrated in close proximity to children. Given the loss of control that was apparent in much of your behaviour, this exposed the children to the risk of not only psychological harm, but also unintentional physical harm. The complainant called out for help. Your father responded. There was a confrontation between you and he and you left the residence. Shortly after, the complainant left with the children. As she was driving away, she saw you. You told her, in front of the children, that you were going to “murder them”. She told you that you were scaring the kids. You said, “You’d better not call the police”.
The 13th specified occasion involved three acts of assault, all occurring on 10 June 2022. You and the complainant had an argument. You called her a “cunt” and a “slut”. Later that day, the complainant told you that she could not wait for the relationship to be over. You punched her to the right side of her face, causing swelling and tenderness. You then punched her a second time to her face, which caused bruising, both inside and outside of her mouth. This is the first assault.
The argument continued. At one point, you picked up a picture frame and smashed it over your leg. You accused the complainant of infidelity and then used part of the broken picture frame to strike her on her back, just above her buttocks. This is the second assault. The complainant had bruising to her back. A short time later, the complainant was sitting on a chair near the back door. You picked up a draft stopper and hit her to the left arm with it, again causing bruising. The complainant walked away. This is the third assault.
A short time later, you grabbed the complainant’s phone from the kitchen bench and ran with it to the bedroom. She followed, asking for her phone. You slammed the phone into the corner of the bedroom door, smashing both the front and back of it. You then started crying, saying that there was something wrong with you. You then tried to appease the situation by offering to run her a bath or get her something to eat or drink.
The 14th specified occasion is constituted by an assault which occurred on 2 July 2022. On this day, the complainant sent you a message asking that you pay some money towards a phone bill. You went to the home. Again, the children were present. You told the complainant that she was a “money hungry cunt”. The complainant, concerned about the children hearing yet more abuse, asked you to leave on several occasions. You refused to do so. The child W, who was witnessing all this, told you to shut up and said she was sick of hearing you. You responded to the eight-year-old child by saying “You’re nothing but a fucking little cunt. I hate you and the sound of your voice irritates me”. The detestably arrogant nature of that response hardly needs to be stated.
Understandably, the complainant was very upset about how you had spoken to W. She screamed at you to get out of the house. Again, you refused to leave. W was so upset by what was happening that she called triple zero. A police officer was tasked to attend. The police officer was able to calm the situation. The complainant and children left the home for a period. When they returned, you were still there. You again started verbally abusing the complainant. She told you to leave. You tipped fish food all over the floor. Whilst the complainant was trying to pick it up, she threw a handful towards you. You responded by punching her to the head three times, casing her forehead to bleed. You were wearing a ring when you punched her, and indentations were left in her skin.
The complainant continued to clean up. You continued to taunt her saying things like “I’m gonna tell police that you smashed your head against the wall yourself.” The complainant went outside and was vomiting. The situation was obviously distressing. Later the complainant was lying with the child W. Having seen what had occurred, the child W expressed her concern by saying “Are you going to die Mum?”. The complainant promised her child that she would not. This is but a small example of the damage that can be caused to children who are exposed to family violence of this nature.
Later that night, you again promised the complainant that you would never again behave in this manner. Your promises were hollow. Some ten days later, there was another incident in which you verbally abused the complainant, telling her that she had raised her children to be “disrespectful little cunts”. You called her a “lazy cunt”. She challenged you about your behaviour and there was a further argument. You claimed you had not done anything wrong in recent times. The complainant pointed out to you that it had only been the previous Saturday when you had punched her in the head. You disputed that and told her she needed to learn how to “fucking count”.
You then went into the kitchen and started throwing things around. She left the house and got into her car. She called police. You approached the car whilst holding the child R. You said to R “throw this rock through the window and I won’t get in trouble for it”. Seeking to involve your young child in your violent, controlling and intimidating ways is, quite frankly, reprehensible. Shortly thereafter, you punched the door of her car, causing damage. Police arrived and made you leave.
On 15 July 2022, the complainant’s father, who owned the residence, told you to leave the house because of your behaviour. You started crying. The complainant asked her father to delay forcing your departure until you had found somewhere else to live.
The 15th specified occasion also involves acts of assault. It occurred on 20 July 2022. You had undergone a hernia operation. The complainant had requested that you recover at another family member’s home, but you refused to do so, and you returned to her home to convalesce. In the days following the operation, you regularly abused the complainant calling her a “useless cunt” and telling her that you were going to remember and when you were better, she would pay. You threatened to make her life “fucking miserable”. During an argument, you said to the complainant “You’re about to get a punch in the fucking head”. She was seated on a couch. You grabbed hold of her leg and pulled her off the couch. You pressed down hard into her stomach. At another point, when the complainant wanted to go outside, you would not let her go. You told the complainant to hurt you. You kept repeating to her “hurt me, hurt me, come on, you want to hurt me”.
During the arguments that were occurring this day, you picked up a pair of scissors. The complainant asked you to put them down. You declined to do so. You told the complainant “I’m going to cut your hair off when you’re sleeping tonight…wouldn’t that be funny…if you woke up with half your hair missing, wouldn’t that be horrible or a funny trick, or too far over the top”. You then gestured with the scissors as if you were going to throw them at her. At another point, after the complainant had asked you not to touch her, you kept poking her with your foot.
Later that same day, you asked the complainant to obtain some take away food for you. When she went to get into the car, you followed her. You were standing outside the car, punching it. You began to throw gravel at the car. The complainant got out of the car. You threw two large rocks at her. Fortunately, both of them missed. The complainant was frightened and fled the area. She was concerned, however, about your mental health and phoned for an ambulance. You were later taken to the Northwest Regional Hospital. Whilst at the hospital, you sent the complainant a series of threatening text messages, which included the following:
- “You’re going to pay for sending me away”
- “You’re a fucking cunt”
- “How fucking dare you put me in an ambulance, you’re dead”
- “You fucking cunt”
- “Send me up here again and you’re dead”
These threatening and abusive messages constitute some of the breach of family violence order counts to which you have pleaded guilty.
You were discharged from the hospital and returned to the complainant’s residence. When you arrived, she had a friend visiting. You started kicking the back door. The complainant asked you to calm down. You told her that you did not care, and you threatened to slit her throat. The friend was scared and went outside with the child R and phoned police. The complainant left the residence in her vehicle. While she was out driving, you sent a message to her saying “I feel overwhelmed how you get everyone against me, and it makes me feel bad and I have my attacks on you”.
The following day you sent further text messages to the complainant which were of an abusive nature, and which referred to her by names like “cunt”.
The 16th specified occasion is a further act of assault. It occurred on 21 July 2022. You were at the complainant’s home. She returned home with a friend. You were agitated. You forced the complainant backwards, into a corner of the kitchen and told her that you were going to kill her. You picked up a knife, reached backwards with it, before swinging it towards her as if you were going to stab her. You did not strike her. You put the knife down and started laughing. The friend who was present, phoned police. Other friends of the complainant also attended the residence. This heightened your agitation, and you began to smash up various items within the house, including the vacuum cleaner, the tv remote, curtain rods and the walls. Some of this behaviour constitutes the offence of destroy property. You caused further damage to the house by punching doors, denting the flashings on the corner of the house and damaging plaster.
At one point, you tried to one of the children’s PlayStation consoles. The complainant took it back. You chased her around the yard with a garden pot. Eventually, police arrived and you were arrested. It seems even simple things, like a request to not take the children’s toys, were often met with violent and intimidatory behaviour from you. The persistency of that type of behaviour exacerbates the trauma associated with each of the specified occasions.
When the complainant did report matters to police she said that she was terrified of you. She described to police that whenever you came near you, she felt like her mind and body would “freeze” and she would become tense and anxious. She told police that she had kept the abuse quiet for so long because it was “humiliating”, and she was fearful that you were going to kill her.
Following your arrest, you participated in a record of interview. That record of interview did not relate to all the matters that I have outlined, but in terms of the allegations you were asked about, in the main, you denied them and claimed that the complainant was “just trying to put you in gaol”. During the interview, you were played some of the CCTV footage that recorded some of the incidents. You said that you recalled some of that behaviour but sought to minimise and justify it. You denied you were intoxicated during the incident. You said that it was the complainant who started the argument, and when asked about some of your comments you said, “sometimes things just get a bit heated in relationships”. You also suggested that you could not remember a number of things because of frontal lobe damage as a baby and your methyl amphetamine use. On several occasions, during the interview, you suggested that the complainant was unstable. You called her crazy, claimed she had borderline personality disorder, and reiterated the allegations were not true and were directed at trying to put you in gaol.
When confronted with photographs of some of the injuries that had been caused by your violence, you again denied responsibility and said that the complainant was psychotic and suggested that you would not be surprised if she had caused the injuries to herself. At one point you even suggested the child R may have caused some of the injuries and you also blamed the children for some of the damage that you had caused to the home and household goods.
A fair assessment of your record of interview is that when confronted by footage of your behaviour, you acknowledged it, but tried to minimise and justify it, and you blamed the complainant for much of it. You otherwise denied your conduct and sought to suggest the complainant was lying and/or had mental health difficulties which gave rise to false allegations. In turn, you downplayed your own mental health difficulties and did not really acknowledge the significant impact your use of illicit substances had upon your behaviour.
After July 2022, the complainant reported further episodes of violence to the police, culminating in you being indicted for the crime of persistent family violence. The proceedings were listed for trial, due to commence on 4 May 2026. On 27 March 2026, your counsel indicated the matter would resolve by way of a plea of guilty. I take into account that the matter was not prepared for trial and witnesses were not briefed, but of course, until March 2026, you had maintained pleas of not guilty, including to some of the summary matters that had been listed for hearing in the Magistrates Court, but were later adjourned sine die. In this time, the complainant would have had an expectation that she may be required to give evidence in respect to the matter.
It could not be said that this was an early plea of guilty, but I accept the plea of guilty nevertheless retains some value in mitigation because ultimately the complainant has been saved the ordeal of having to give evidence in a trial. I accept this would have been a challenging and most likely distressing situation for her, particularly given you and she have resumed a relationship, a subject matter I shall return to in due course.
Your behaviour towards the complainant was nothing short of disgraceful. Not only did you cause her physical pain and harm, but you treated her in a degrading and humiliating manner. You assaulted her and threatened her in an effort to control, intimidate and dominate her. Your violence was, at times, extreme. The acts of strangulation to the point of her experiencing breathing difficulties, are particularly serious forms of violence. Such acts can very easily cause substantial physical injury, particularly when pressure to the neck area is being applied by a person who is in a state of uncontrolled anger and emotional dysregulation, as I find you were.
Your assault upon her when she was heavily pregnant, and the violence you directed towards her stomach area, and therefore the unborn baby, is reprehensible. You caused her physical pain, but most pointedly, you were willing to risk an adverse impact to the pregnancy and harm to your unborn baby. Generally, your violence resulted in the complainant being left on many occasions with redness, swelling, bruising and soreness. Given the extreme nature of your anger at times and your clear loss of control, in my assessment, it is most fortunate that your violence did not result in far worse consequences. For a period of two years, you persistently engaged in a pattern of physical violence, abusive and offensive comments, and extreme threats to control, demean and belittle the complainant.
It is a significantly aggravating feature of your crime that much of the violence occurred whilst young children were present, and in circumstances where it was almost inevitable that they saw and heard the violence. On occasion, you held the child R in your arms as you brutally assaulted his mother. On other occasions, the child W felt compelled to intervene, and such was the intensity of what she observed, that she asked her mother whether she was going to die.
It speaks to the intensity of your anger and loss of control that you were willing to perpetrate violence and abuse upon the complainant in front of the children, thereby exposing them to the risk of physical harm also, as evidenced by the occasion you knocked R to the ground. Moreover, it is well understood that the exposure of children to family violence has a significantly deleterious impact upon their development and psychological well being. The children were obviously distressed and upset on at least some of the occasions, and even given their young ages, it is highly likely that they suffered harm, the full extent of which may not be appreciated for many years. You showed no regard for your own child when you chose to treat his mother in this way. You spoke to the complainant’s other children in a heartless and cruel manner. Your behaviour involved a significant breach of trust in respect to both the complainant and all the children. Your moral culpability is, in my assessment, most high.
You are now 33 years of age. Prior to the period when the persistent family violence offending commenced, you had very little by way of criminal history. There were some traffic matters and some offences suggesting the heavy use of alcohol, but nothing by way of violent offending. The matters which now appear on your record of criminal offending, all occurred during the period of family violence offending and have largely been referred to in the facts I have outlined.
I am told that all this offending occurred at a time when you were struggling with excessive alcohol consumption and methyl amphetamine use. Your abuse of those substances stemmed from several mental health challenges, which you have experienced from a young age. As a child, you had behavioural difficulties. You were medicated from a young age for ADHD and in your view, that medication may have had an adverse impact upon you. You consider that your early use of that medication may, in fact, have exacerbated your mental health difficulties. In turn, you sought to cope with your mental health difficulties by the excessive use of alcohol and methyl amphetamine.
To your credit, it seems that you have now addressed those difficulties. I am told that you have consulted with mental health professionals and have undertaken counselling through psychologists. You have also consulted with a psychiatrist and have now been diagnosed with adult ADHD. You have been prescribed medication for that condition, which appears to be of benefit to you. You report that you are now far more stable and in control of your emotions and behaviour. Importantly, you have also addressed your abuse of both alcohol and drugs. You have undertaken counselling in respect to those difficulties and have also undertaken a course in behaviour therapy to address how you react to stressors and conflict within a relationship, and within your life generally.
You have learnt to adopt strategies that allow you to react calmly, for example, by removing yourself from the situation and writing your feelings down, rather than responding to your emotions immediately. I am told that the work you have undertaken in respect to both your mental health, and your drug and alcohol use has been long term and systematic. It has led you to a position whereby you can now acknowledge and recognise that your behaviour was simply appalling. It is submitted on your behalf that you take full responsibility for your actions and acknowledge that the complainant should never have experienced what, in fact, happened. I am told that you are determined to not allow yourself to return to the place where you were at.
Your counsel submits that it was not until you had worked your way through the process of addressing your drug addiction and mental health challenges that you could put aside your “ego, fears and natural desire for self-protection” and admit your guilt. Whilst the Court can accept the process of addressing the misuse of drugs and alcohol and various mental health conditions can be complex and often undulating, the fact is, it has taken a very long time for you to acknowledge wrongdoing and accept responsibility. You were charged with these matters in August 2022. As noted, a number of matters were originally before the Magistrates Court, but you had entered pleas of not guilty in respect to those matters. An indictable charge was committed to this Court in July of 2023. A plea of not guilty was maintained in respect to what was, at that point, a count of Criminal Code assault. The indictment for persistent family violence was filed on 28 May 2024. A plea of not guilty was maintained in respect of the charge on the indictment until the matter was listed in a trial grid for trial in May of 2026. It was only five weeks, therefore, prior to the trial’s commencement that the plea of guilty was indicated.
It is apparent from the timeframe that I have outlined, that whatever the rehabilitative endeavours that you may have undertaken, it did not lead you to a place whereby you were prepared to accept responsibility for what you had done until quite recently. The Court, therefore, needs to exercise caution before accepting your rehabilitation is so entrenched as to eradicate the need for specific deterrence. The now asserted claims of remorse and insight must be evaluated against that background. In my view, specific deterrence remains a sentencing principle that attracts weight.
That said, I accept there are indicators of rehabilitation as evidenced by the fact you have not re-offended for several years now. For a period of about two and half years, you were subject to stringent family violence orders, including electronic monitoring. It seems you were compliant with those orders. There have also been restrictive bail conditions in place, and there is no suggestion you have breached those. The absence of re-offending over the past nearly four years is a strong indicator of reform.
For an extended period, you and the complainant were estranged but there was then a staged approach to the restrictions imposed by the family violence order being softened, which allowed you and the complainant to work upon, and ultimately resume, your relationship. Whilst the complainant continues to condemn your conduct, she has identified that you have made substantial changes and now considers that you are a positive aspect of both her and the children’s lives. She has provided the Court with a victim impact statement and a letter in support of you. In those statements, she outlines that at the time of the offending, she experienced considerable distress and her sense of safety, stability and well being was seriously impaired. She speaks of the emotional turmoil your behaviour had upon her. She notes, however, that since the commission of the crimes, she has observed significant changes within you, including that you are no longer resorting to the use of illicit substances or excessive alcohol to manage stress. She describes the resumed relationship as one that is “respectful, stable and harmonious”. She says that the communication between the two of you is now calm and she feels safe in your presence, the two of you having developed a safety plan should a situation of difficulty arise.
She also notes that your relationship with your child and her two children from the previous relationship has improved markedly. She comments on the support that you now provide for the children. She also notes that your presence in the family home assists financially and allows her to maintain her employment, which involves early starts. You take on caring responsibilities for the children to enable her to pursue that employment. You also assist her in regard to some of her own health challenges.
She notes that you have become involved in pro-social activities. She also comments as to your general change in attitude. She opines that, in her view, you have made genuine and sustained efforts to change. She considers that if you are not able to remain within the community, and therefore within the family home, that both her and the children would be adversely affected.
I, of course, acknowledge the complainant’s views. She suffered the physical and emotional pain of your offending, and she has been a witness to, and part of, your recovery. In turn, the changes you have made have allowed her to begin to heal from the trauma you caused. The Court accepts that she has an understanding of, and can speak to, the changes that you have made, and to that end, her views are relevant. The question is, however, what weight her views should carry in the exercise of the sentencing discretion. The Court cannot lose sight of the fact that for a period of two years, whilst this offending was occurring, the complainant was too ashamed, embarrassed or fearful to fully disclose the extent of the violence. The facts of this case speak to an all too familiar pattern in family violence offending of violence, followed by apparent remorse or contrition, followed by post-offence forgiveness, followed by further violence. It is the existence of such a pattern which allowed this offending to continue for so long. Moreover, it is a common experience of sentencing courts that victims of family violence may, for a myriad of reasons, feel pressure to forgive the perpetrator, or feel compelled for other reasons, to demonstrate a preparedness to forgive the perpetrator. Here, of course, the complainant speaks to practical benefits that arise from her forgiveness of you, but also asserts she has seen significant change in your attitude and the manner in which you deal with issues within the relationship. The complainant’s observations provided support for your claims of rehabilitation. I also note the character reference you provided from a Ms Smedley, which is positive and indicates that she has observed a “significant and genuine improvement in his behaviour, attitude and overall approach to his personal life”. I am prepared, given this material, to sentence on the basis that your rehabilitation is well advanced, but your rehabilitation is but one, of many factors that this Court is required to consider.
The weight to be given to your rehabilitation, and the complainant’s desire for you not to be incarcerated, cannot overreach the need for strong denunciation and general deterrence in response to the objective seriousness of your conduct. This was appalling behaviour and the Court is obligated to send a very clear message to family violence offenders that regardless of forgiveness on the part of complainants, crimes of this nature will be met with harsh penalties. In my assessment, the importance of general deterrence and the need to condemn behaviour of this nature, overrides the weight to be given to any evidence of forgiveness.
It is submitted on your behalf that the Court ought to impose a sentence that allows you to remain in the community, given the rehabilitative endeavours you have undertaken, and the asserted low risk of repeat offending. Whilst I accept rehabilitation is an important objective of the criminal law, as I have noted, it is far from the only objective. Other sentencing objectives are at least equally, if not more, important. It is in the community’s interest that sentences adequately recognise the nature and significance of the wrong that has been perpetrated by the imposition of just punishment. Behaviour that is this abhorrent, simply cannot go unpunished. It is also important to note that the imposition of a period of imprisonment is not necessarily inconsistent with rehabilitation. Programmes are available within the custodial setting, which are designed to encourage and enhance rehabilitation. In any event, if your commitment to change is genuine and meaningful, rather than superficial, it should be sustained throughout any period of incarceration. An important aspect of genuine rehabilitation is accepting responsibility for wrongdoing and the consequences that flow from such wrongdoing.
The proper approach to sentencing this crime requires a defendant to be sentenced as if the identified acts of family violence were separately charged, with allowance for the moderating factors of totality and proportionality. The sentencing process should also recognise that the identified occasions occurred in the context of regular and sometimes other unidentified similar offending. That consideration applies here.
As has been often said by courts, family violence is simply to be deplored. It is all too common, and the community is concerned and exasperated by the fact that its frequency does not appear to be lessening. The Court has an obligation to impose sentences which unequivocally convey the denunciation of such conduct. Here, your conduct was, at times, dangerous, cruel and psychologically manipulative. The very nature of family violence is that it often remains hidden in the relationship, and the complexities of it are such that victims often find it difficult to disentangle themselves from the relationship, particularly when children are involved. That seems to be exactly what has occurred here. The complainant frequently kept quiet about the extent of your violence because she was too embarrassed, ashamed and fearful to speak up. That is a factor to which I am particularly minded when I evaluate the weight to be given to her forgiveness of you.
There is nothing within the facts of the offending which justifies any lenience. I bear in mind there is some overlap in the behaviours that constitute a stand-alone offence and a breach of the family violence order. I give weight to the rehabilitative steps that you have undertaken and the obvious efforts you have made to change yourself for the better. Those matters count in your favour, and but for those matters, the sentence I impose would have been considerably longer.
Taking all matters into account, my assessment is that the only possible sentence is a significant term of imprisonment. I have given very careful consideration to your counsel’s submission that given the evidence of rehabilitation, I ought to impose a wholly suspended sentence. In my view, to do so would be to abdicate my responsibility to impose a fair and just sentence which reflects all relevant sentencing considerations, not just those favourable to a defendant. I am however persuaded that I should suspend a portion of the period of imprisonment to reflect the changes made.
I make the following orders. Samuel Bradley Poke, you are convicted of the crime of persistent family violence and the summary matters to which you have pleaded guilty. I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five years and six months, commencing 17 May 2026. I suspend the last eighteen months of that sentence on condition that for a period of two years, you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served one-half of the operative period of imprisonment. Pursuant to s 13A of the Family Violence Act, I direct that the crime and offences be recorded on your criminal record as family violence offences. I am also satisfied that it is appropriate to make a serious family violence perpetrator declaration, and I do so. The declaration will remain in force for a period of five years.
Application is made pursuant to s36 of the Family Violence Act for an extension of the currently operating family violence order, which is due to expire on 19 September this year. Given the attitude of the complainant, the evidence of rehabilitation and the sentence imposed, I decline to make that order. If at a point in the future it is appropriate for such an order to operate, application can be made in the Magistrates Court.