Man with black belt argues chokehold is not strangulation under Queensland domestic violence laws

‘Blood chokes’ – or chokeholds that restrict circulation, rather than breathing – are not covered by Queensland’s non-lethal strangulation laws. Photograph: GoodLifeStudio/Getty Images

Domestic violence experts have raised concerns about a potential “loophole” in Queensland’s non-lethal strangulation laws, after a man argued in court he had not restricted a woman’s breathing when he executed a chokehold designed to cut off the blood flow to her brain.

The state made choking and strangulation a standalone offence in 2016, saying at the time that the act was “a pivotal moment that reveals an escalation in the seriousness of the violence committed against a person”. Research shows that domestic victims of non-lethal strangulation are seven times more likely to be subsequently killed.