A MAN has been extradited from Queensland and sentenced to two years jail for two alcohol-fuelled attacks two years ago.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Brendan Cutmore will spend at least 12 months behind bars after bashing a pregnant woman and a man in separate incidents in April and June 2015.
The 27-year-old limped into the dock of Armidale Local Court on Wednesday in shorts after he was extradited by police from the Armidale Target Action Group (TAG) on Tuesday.
Magistrate Michael Holmes said the attacks were “connected by the fact of alcohol”.
GUILTY PLEAS ENTERED IN COURT
He said the attack was “unpleasant, nasty and aggravated by the fact that this woman was expecting”.
Cutmore pleaded guilty immediately to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
According to court documents, he attacked a woman he knew in Armidale in June, 2015, leaving her with several facial fractures. She was treated at Armidale hospital for her injuries.
The second attack occurred on a man at Bankstown in Sydney in April, 2015, and left him with serious facial injuries.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Cheryl Hall said there were photos and a video statement from the pregnant woman after the assault.
“It certainly show the victim in her state,” she told the court.
Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) solicitor Guy Newby objected and said he hadn’t seen the video, but said the “photographs tell the story”.
“I've spoken to my client, he knows he’s going to jail for a lengthy time,” he said.
CUTMORE HAD ‘TROUBLED UPBRINGING’
I've spoken to my client, he knows he’s going to jail for a lengthy time.
- Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor Guy Newby
Mr Newby said his client had had a troubled upbringing and had been removed from his family, and was “floating back and forward” and “that’s when he started to get into trouble”.
He said the attack “was my client going crook on her” after becoming frustrated but conceded it was “in now way any excuse”.
The court heard Cutmore “skipped out of the state” and had been living in Queensland, but a simple traffic offence revealed his whereabouts.
TAG officers travelled to Queensland before Cutmore was arrested by Ipswich detectives and the Tactical Crime Squad, at a home in Alice St, Goodna, at 5pm on Mother’s Day.
INJURIES DETAILED IN PHOTOS, VIDEO
Sergeant Hall said Cutmore “has been outstanding for a long period of time” and the female victim was six months pregnant.
“[The photos] showed that she was heavily pregnant at the time,” she told the court.
“An aggravated feature is that there were children that were present.”
[The photos] showed that she was heavily pregnant at the time,” she told the court ... an aggravated feature is that there were children that were present.
- Police prosecutor Cheryl Hall
Mr Newby said Cutmore hadn’t offended in Queensland but had been living with family and working.
He said his plea “shows remorse for the offences” and asked for a longer time on parole to allow him to “transition back into the community” and to undergo anger management.
“There is still hope for rehabilitation,” he said.
SENTENCE FOLLOWS LENGTHY RECORD
Magistrate Michael Holmes said despite the early guilty plea, Cutmore did “not have a good record”.
“I do note that you have had some problems in the past,” he said.
The most aggravating feature is the assault on the woman … and she was expecting at the time. It was a very, very nasty assault.
- Magistrate Michael Holmes
“The most aggravating feature is the assault on the woman … and she was expecting at the time.
“It was a very, very nasty assault.”
He sentenced Cutmore to two consecutive sentences, ordering him to serve two years in jail, with at least 12 months behind bars until he is eligible for parole.