Ashley Walsh: Horror dash-cam footage captures moment Mt Magnet slammed into wife with car

A Mid West man who ran down his wife in a vicious attack has avoided jail, despite shocking dash-cam footage of the incident shown to a Geraldton court last week. Ashley John Walsh, a 53-year-old man from Mt Magnet, can be seen on the footage performing a U-turn, driving towards his wife before mounting the kerb and hitting her with the front of his grey Ford Territory. The victim was thrown several metres before slamming her head on the ground. Walsh then got out of the vehicle, picked up his injured wife, forced her into the car and went home. In Geraldton Magistrates Court on Thursday, Walsh was sentenced to a 12-month jail term, suspended for 15 months. Appearing via video link, Walsh was sentenced on charges of being the driver of a vehicle involved in an incident occasioning bodily harm and failing to report the incident to police, and acts or omissions causing bodily harm or danger to any person. The court was told about the lead-up to the shocking incident, with police prosecutor Sgt Beau Jones saying Walsh and his wife were drinking alcohol together at an address in Mt Magnet when an argument broke out between the pair on December 17, 2021. Walsh accused his wife of sleeping with other men and struck her once to the jaw then again on top of the forehead. Scared for her safety, the victim fled the house and ran south on Great Northern Highway towards the town centre. She then observed the grey Ford Territory driven by Walsh driving on the wrong side of the road in pursuit of her. Footage of the incident was captured on dash cam from a truck driving along Great Northern Highway. Sgt Jones said Walsh did not offer the victim any medical support and she was later flown to Royal Perth Hospital, with an injured left hand and a laceration to the back of her head. Defence lawyer Eva Svanberg said it wasn’t Walsh’s intention to hurt his wife with the vehicle. She claimed Walsh panicked as he saw the truck heading in his direction and noted he had a few beers on the night. In a letter written to the court, the victim said the incident was an accident and Walsh had “learnt his lesson”. Magistrate Angus Hockton said he did not accept Walsh’s explanation. “You weren’t getting out the way, you wanted to do a U-turn and significantly collided with your partner which sent her flying,” he said. “If you wanted to avoid that collision, you would have driven away and not towards your partner.” The maximum jail term for the charge is 36 months in the Magistrates Court. “A picture paints a thousand words Mr Walsh, you used that vehicle as weapon,” Mr Hockton said. Despite this, he acknowledged Walsh’s plea of guilty at the first reasonable opportunity and that he had spent 11 months in custody since his arrest. Taking these factors into account, Hockton handed him a suspended sentence.