Geraldton man Shane Douglas Hawkins receives suspended sentence for assault, threats on partner

A Geraldton man who punched his partner in the stomach and threatened to put a bullet in her head has been spared jail. Shane Douglas Hawkins pleaded guilty to one count each of unlawful assault causing bodily harm and making threats to kill over an incident involving his partner of five years in February. Geraldton Magistrates Court was on Monday told Hawkins had been in Yalgoo to attend his father’s funeral when he got into an altercation with his partner at a relative’s house. Prosecutor Sgt Beau Jones said the 41-year-old became “aggressive” and punched his partner in the stomach, telling the woman he was going to kill her. She tried to run away but Hawkins followed her and threw a chair at her back. She fell to the ground and Hawkins struck her upper arm with a broom. When she again attempted to escape, the woman saw Hawkins was holding a bullet and he told her: “I will put this in your head”. Sgt Jones described the attack as a particularly serious example of domestic violence which combined “emotional abuse” and threats with physical violence using multiple objects to inflict harm. Defence counsel Veronica Randall said Hawkins had been heavily intoxicated at the time of the offending and had been grief-affected. She said Hawkins “knows he has a lot of work to do” and was prepared to engage with support services. Magistrate Angus Hockton told Hawkins he “should know better” at his age than to assault the person he was supposed to care about. He said the findings of a pre-sentence report showed evidence of “victim blaming”, with Hawkins claiming he had acted in response to something his partner had said. But Mr Hockton recognised that the offending was out of character for Hawkins and his plea of guilty indicated he had taken responsibility for his actions. Hawkins received 14 months imprisonment, but the sentence was suspended for 12 months on the condition that he comply with supervision and program requirements and did not reoffend.