A magistrate has jailed a domestic abuser for almost five years in a case she described as shining a light on the "insidious nature of domestic violence".
Jamie Damien Millard, 41, was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday for several crimes, including choking another person, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contravening a family violence order, and multiple driving offences.
Magistrate Louise Taylor sentenced him to just shy of four years and 10 months in jail, with a non-parole period of three years and three months.
Ex-partner and victim Bree Myers gave a statement saying she felt "heard by magistrate Taylor and she did everything she possibly could".
Millard had previously pleaded guilty, admitting he abused former partner Ms Myers on three separate occasions between February 2018 and March 2019.
Two occasions involved Millard choking Ms Myers, with a scale of force at a "9.5 out of 10", while the victim held her child on her hip.
Earlier in September, Ms Myers gave a statement to the court, saying she lived on "constant edge in full flight mode".
In the statement, he told Millard "that should you not remain in custody ... it is not a matter of if you kill me and my children, it is a matter of when".
While sentencing Millard on Monday, Ms Taylor found the presence of children during the offending was disturbing as "even little eyes before him did not deter him".
Ms Taylor noted Millard had breached a family violence order, proving he was not deterred from "scanning around the periphery of [the victim's] life", which would be frightening when the victim did "everything she could to avoid abuse".
Ms Taylor said domestic violence was serious and Millard's case "gives insight to why this is so", labelling the man's crimes "brutal, cowardly and inexcusable".
Ms Myers staying with Millard during the offending was not a mitigating feature in the eyes of Ms Taylor, who said she found "such a suggestion is absurd".
The magistrate said the modern world had evolved to understand that the solution was for perpetrators to stop being violent, and that victims faced complex challenges when deciding whether to leave abusive relationships.
These included the perception of risk, having to leave a familiar space, and considerations involving children.
"I take this opportunity to completely disavow the outdated notion [that it is] for a woman to leave the relationship," Ms Taylor said.
The multiple witnesses and accounts given, mostly by women, to prove Ms Myers had been abused were strong in the eyes of Ms Taylor, as "all of the women spoke to the insidious nature of domestic violence".
Ms Taylor noted rehabilitation was "not entirely lost" for Millard, who was described by one character referee as a "top Aussie bloke".
In concluding her sentence, Ms Taylor said it was in her view "the only appropriate outcome is full-time imprisonment".
Further to Ms Myers' statement, she could begin to move on now the "worst part of my life has been finalised".
"I don't feel it is enough only because [Millard] robbed me of everything," Ms Myers said.
"I feel magistrate Taylor really understood my fear and the dangers I face. I'll never be totally safe and I'll never not be scared of him.
"Now I'll start to learn how to function normally ... I just hope other women can get the protection we need."
With time already served on remand, Millard will become eligible for parole in June 2025.
