Warning: Distressing content
A convicted murderer and serial violent offender has been locked up for horrific crimes against his partner, including an incident in which he bit off a chunk of her earlobe.
Port Kembla man Kevin Dean Scroop was first jailed as a teenager in 1994 after being convicted of the murder of 26-year-old Muswellbrook woman Tracey Ann James.
Scroop and Ms James met at a Blacktown pub in August 1993 before he bashed her to death, discarding her body in a stormwater drain.
Judge Andrew Haesler said at Wollongong District Court that eight months after Scroop was granted parole in 2010, he committed two assaults, and cycled in and out of custody for further violent offending.
Scroop watched intently from the AVL suite at Goulburn jail on Friday, August 30 as he learnt his fate for his latest reign of terror.
The court heard Scroop verbally and violently abused his then partner, a Wollongong mother, from inside the walls of his unit between February and March 2023.
The woman fled and reported the attacks to Lake Illawarra police alongside a support person. Officers noticed she was in an "extremely distressed state" with several visible injuries.
Scroop has remained behind bars since.
He first repeatedly lashed the woman with a fishing rod and as she went to wash her blood-covered face, Scroop turned cold water at high pressure on her.
"It was a degrading and humiliating experience," the judge said of this incident.
An irate Scroop later held a machete-style knife above the woman as she lay on a bed, pointing it towards her and threatening, "I will kill you right now". She believed he would follow through on the threat.
In another attack, he bit the woman's face and ear, leaving her with permanent injuries including facial scarring and a chunk of her lobe forever missing.
He subjected her to further degrading acts, including punching her in the head from behind, throwing a bourbon can at her, and breaking her phone after she said would report the abuse.
The final incident involved Scroop pushing her off a stool and yelling, "Are you a dumb c---?" before forcing his fingers down her throat so she couldn't breathe.
He pleaded guilty in January to intentionally damaging property, using an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, and six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Defence lawyer Ivan Vizintin told the court Scroop was in protective custody due to his history being publicised in the media, putting him a more "onerous position".
Judge Haesler noted the offending occurred in the context of Scroop being a heavy drinker and that a penalty must reflect the need to protect the community.
"His history indicates these matters were not uncharacteristic, but a continuing series of offending against those in the community," he said.
Scroop's intellectual impairment, anti-social personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder were also factored into the sentence of four years jail.
A non-parole period of two years and six months was imposed.
- If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or family violence contact the national sexual assault, domestic violence counselling service 24-hour helpline 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
