A man choked his wife unconscious, then flushed her head in a toilet twice as he "sought to punish and control" her with "violence and degradation".
This demeaning abuse caused the woman an "array of distressing emotions", namely a "profound sense of betrayal and loss", even impacting her career, Acting Justice John Burns said on Friday.
The man, aged in his 30s, who has not been named to protect the identity of the victim, did not visibly react during his ACT Supreme Court sentencing.
Acting Justice Burns handed him a five-year-and-three-month jail sentence with a non-parole period of two-years-and-nine-months.
The sentence was backdated to take 12-months already spent behind bars into account.
"[The crimes were] part of a course of conduct in which you sought to punish and control the victim ... [through] violence and degradation," Acting Justice Burns told the abuser.
The husband previously pleaded guilty to choking another person rendering them unconscious, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contravening a family violence order and two counts of choking, suffocating or strangling another person.
This violent abuse happened in September 2023, after the victim went to a social function and the man stayed home.
While she was out, a text message from another man came through on her iPad, and her husband believed she was cheating.
When she returned home, he immediately grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the front door.
The man squeezed until she lost consciousness. When the woman came to, she was on the ground with her husband standing over her, saying: "I hope you had fun and I hope it was worth it."
"If it wasn't for the kids I would kill you and slice your throat," he said before strangling her again.
The victim then went to vomit in the toilet and while she was kneeling, the man pushed her head into the bowl and flushed causing her head to get wet.
She held her breath while the toilet flushed, and the man demanded to know if she was cheating.
He then pushed her head back into the toilet and flushed a second time.
The man stopped his wife from showering and punched her multiple times while she was on the floor, shielding her face with her arms.
There were two toddlers and a 10-year-old girl in the home at the time. The girl sent multiple text messages to another family member saying her dad was hurting the victim and she was afraid.
The police later arrived and the man was arrested.
While he was in custody, he sent a letter to the victim's brother in a "deliberate" breach of a family violence order.
The man will be eligible for release in June 2026.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; ACT Domestic Violence Crisis Service 6280 0900.
