Ex-Hamilton chef pleads guilty in Warrnambool County Court to sex assault

The now 26-year-old, who cannot be named as that could identify the victim, pleaded guilty in the County Court in August last year to sexual assault, threat to inflict serious injury and assault.

The former Hamilton man unsuccessfully attempted to change his plea at a hearing in June and appeared in the same court on Thursday, August 23.

Court documents show on January 15, 2020, the man threw his partner against a wall, verbally abused her, slapped her about five times and threatened to slit her throat.

He then sexually assaulted her.

The victim started to have a panic attack and was hyper-ventilating.

The man stopped, apologised and left the room.

Two days later he took one of the victim's knives and threw it in her direction.

The knife hit the wall, causing her fear she would be hit.

The man went to Hamilton Base Hospital's emergency department on January 20. He reported hallucinating and admitting consuming a cocktail of alcohol, methamphetamine, cannabis and cocaine.

He was arrested at a Hamilton hotel two days later.

In an impact statement read to the court, the victim said she no longer felt safe, found it difficult to socialise and suffered significant weight loss and complex post traumatic stress disorder following the offending three years ago.

Barrister James Portelli, representing the offender, accepted there were lengthy delays in the case but said his client had not re-offended in the intervening period and had demonstrated his ongoing rehabilitation.

He tendered medical documents to the court outlining the man's diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychosis, with the latter being the result of voluntary drug use.

In sentence submissions, he urged Judge Michael O'Connell to consider his client's youth, stating he was 22 at the time of the offending.

Mr Portelli said the man no longer lived in the south-west but had a desire to return to the hospitality industry despite being out of work for some time.

Prosecutor Danielle Guesdon submitted the man was a risk of further violent behaviour and urged the court to consider mental health intervention.

The judge accepted the man's mental health was rapidly deteriorating at the time of the offending but said that was no excuse.

"Particularly because your symptoms appear to have been self-induced," he said.

The man was sentenced to a two-year community-based order involving 180 hours of unpaid work and treatment for mental health and alcohol and drug abuse.

If not for the man's guilty plea, he would have been sentenced to three years' jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.

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