A FATHER who held a knife to his ex-partner's throat, threatening to kill her and then assaulted their 18-month-old son, has been jailed for 12 months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Luke Esh, 33, of Strachan Street, Hamilton, pleaded not guilty in the Hamilton Magistrates Court this week.
On Thursday magistrate Peter Mellas found the charges proven and imposed the 12-month sentence with a minimum six months to serve before being eligible for parole.
The proven charges included recklessly causing injury, false imprisonment, making threats to kill and unlawful assault on both the woman and his son.
Mr Mellas said the case was a serious example of family violence involving aggression, control, physical violence and imprisonment of the woman within her home.
"I have no doubt this had a serious impact on her," he said, adding Esh needed to change or he would remain a threat to the woman.
The magistrate said there were matters within the case that needed to be emphasised including punishment,denunciation, protection of the victim and specific deterrence for Esh.
He said Esh had guarded prospects of rehabilitation and at the time of the offending he was blaming everything that was wrong in his life on his former partner, even whether he was their child's father.
Mr Mellas said Esh needed to get over his issues with his former partner.
Police previously said in court that Esh and a woman had been in a two-year relationship, but they separated about a year ago.
There have been seven incidents between them reported to police and several intervention orders but the last of those expired on April 30 this year.
Police said that about midnight on May 5 Esh entered the woman's home through an unlocked back door and she was on a mattress in a lounge room watching television.
Police claim Esh called the woman vile names and then grabbed her by the throat and then her long hair.
He then threatened to kill her if she called the police.
Their son became upset and Esh is alleged to have hit him with a glancing blow.
Esh grabbed the woman by the throat again before he got a knife which he held to her throat.
The woman said she thought she was going to die and began blacking out.
Esh kept the woman in her home for a couple of hours until she was able to get hold of another mobile telephone and contact police.
Officers arrived at 6.15am, heard arguing and noticed the woman was suffering from injuries.
