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AAP
AAP
National
Miklos Bolza

Devotion became danger for McDonald's car attack victim

A woman has recounted how a devoted relationship to her partner grew more and more dangerous until he tried to run her down with his car as she stood in a Sydney McDonald's.

Reading out her victim impact statement during a sentence hearing for Abbas Hayder Al-Khafaji on Thursday, the woman who cannot be legally named said she wholeheartedly threw herself into the relationship with her partner.

Originally sticking by Al-Khafaji despite his recreational drug use in the hope he would stop, she said he eventually became possessive, paranoid and sometimes aggressive towards her.

"Leaving this relationship was not going to be without explosive repercussions," she told Campbelltown District Court.

Feeling "emotionally manipulated" into sticking around because the 27-year-old would resort to drug use and self-harm when she mentioned breaking up, the woman eventually worked up the courage to leave.

In the aftermath of this, Al-Khafaji then drove his car at the woman while she was standing in the doorway of the Narallen McDonald's on February 22 last year.

"Time and longevity in this relationship has proven to me that Abbas is relentless in pursuing what and who he wants," the woman said.

The Oran Park man, who is now in custody, has pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon with an intent to commit an indictable offence, destroying or damaging property worth between $5000 and $15,000, and contravening the conditions of an AVO.

He has also asked the court to consider a guilty plea to one count of resisting a police officer when his sentence is determined.

CCTV footage played in court showed the vehicle ploughing through the glass windows of the McDonald's and ending up inside the fast food restaurant.

The victim then flees to the kitchen where she is followed by Al-Khafaji who confronts her multiple times, waving his arms at her and pacing angrily around the store before leaving on foot.

He later returned for the car, struggling to reverse it out of the restaurant's interior before driving off.

The hearing continues.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14

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