A man who hit his partner with a cricket bat and pretended to call an ambulance as she lay on the ground with a fractured spine was "deliberate and cruel", a magistrate found.
The 24-year-old, who has not been named to protect the victim's identity, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court to two years and five months in prison, with an 18-month non-parole period.
A decision published on Wednesday, August 5, revealed the man had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
During an argument at the couple's apartment in October 2025, the 24-year-old forcefully struck his partner on the upper back with a cricket bat, leaving her on the floor with a tingling sensation in her spine.
After contacting a medical service that advised her to call an ambulance, the woman repeatedly begged her partner to get help, but he refused.
Instead, he questioned whether she was really injured, suggested the assault was her fault, and told her he was "taking pleasure" in her pain because he believed she had been mean to him during the argument.
He then pretended to call an ambulance, maintaining the deception for more than 30 minutes before leaving the apartment, telling the woman he did not want to "get into trouble".
Left alone with a serious spinal injury, she eventually called an ambulance herself. The woman was taken to The Canberra Hospital, where doctors found she had suffered a fractured spine at the base of the neck.
She spent three days in hospital, "frightened and in constant pain", the published decision stated.
The woman wore a neck brace around the clock for seven weeks, later moved to Sydney to live with her parents while she recovered and continues to experience neck pain and stiffness.
The man, who worked with the Department of Home Affairs, has been suspended from his position as a result of this crime.
In a letter to the court following the assault, the man claimed he failed to seek medical help because he was dissociated and in shock.
However, Magistrate Ian Temby said he did not believe that explanation.
"I listened to the audio recordings of his exchange with [his partner] following the assault and he is calm, deliberate and cruel," Mr Temby said.
"In my view, the reason why he did not help [his partner] was because, as he said at the time, he was taking pleasure in her pain as he considered that she had wronged him."
The magistrate also said he did not accept the 24-year-old was genuinely remorseful, "at least not in a way that enhances the prospects of rehabilitation or reduces the need for specific deterrence".
"His cruelty in pretending to call an ambulance was deliberate and sustained," Mr Temby said.
"He accepted praise from [his partner] when she said that it was brave of him to call, he said that he called the ambulance because he really loved and cared for her, and he repeatedly asserted that he had called the ambulance when [his partner] queried whether he was lying about having done so."
He said he was not satisfied based on the evidence before the court that the man's mental health conditions or childhood experiences had a direct impact on his decision-making when he assaulted his partner.
The man will be eligible to apply for parole in January 2028.
