by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dandenong man has been jailed over abducting a woman in a car and inflicting violent assaults on her for more than two hours.
Liam Casley, a 21-year-old new dad, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to kidnapping and recklessly causing injury to his then-partner.
He also pleaded to contravening a family violence safety notice and driving disqualified.
Sentencing judge Carolene Gwynn said on 19 June that the serious offending was in the face of the victim’s simple request to ‘stop the car and let her out’.
The ordeal was “unacceptable, appalling and I have very little doubt one that (the victim) found terrifying”.
“Most concerning was you inability to control your own anger over an extended period of time – some two hours and 19 minutes – when you had a number of opportunities to pause and reflect.”
After an argument on the night of 22 April 2023, a yelling Casley and his partner pulled, pushed and shoved each other in the street.
He took a running kick at her then dragged her into the rear seat of the car.
Casley later drove her around as he yelled at her about issues in their relationship.
At one point, she opened the door to escape. Casley pulled her back in the car and backhanded her in the nose.
During the “particularly nasty” assaults, he pulled her hair with force and bit her.
They both went inside his grandmother’s house in Karingal about 1am, she being too scared to leave.
Special Operations Group police arrived later that morning and arrested Casley in the bedroom.
The victim was observed with scratches and bruises to her face and neck as well as bruises to her forehead, arms and hands.
A family violence safety notice was served on the spot. After Casley’s release, he breached the notice by calling his partner and sending her seven messages.
The victim stated the ordeal was extremely traumatic and one of the most difficult things she’d experienced, Judge Gwynn noted.
She suffered nightmares as well as scars from where Casley bit her.
“She can’t understand this behaviour of someone who she thought loved her.”
At the time Casley was on two corrections orders – one after being jailed over an affray in which he kicked a prone man so hard that he lifted into the air, Judge Gwynn said.
His criminal record was “unenviable… for someone so young”.
Casley’s traumatic upbringing, drinking and drug abuse and complex mental health including ADHD, PTSD and autism reduced his moral culpability.
But it also raised the question of how to best protect the community.
He was a moderate-to-high risk of reoffending – which was escalated by intoxication, psychologists reported.
The impulsive Casley displayed violent, unpredictable traits, disrespected court orders and was undeterred by jail terms, Judge Gwynn said.
There were also risks to the community if a young offender like Casley was “taught the ways of a criminal through incarceration”.
She urged Casley to seek NDIS support.
Casley was jailed for up to two years and 10 months, including an 18-month non-parole period.
He’d served 393 days in pre-sentence custody.
