Albany man jailed for more than two years and declared serial family violence offender after repeated breaches

An Albany man has been jailed and declared a serial family violence offender as the court reached the point of last resort in sentencing him after multiple family violence convictions. Daniel Peter Turner, 42, appeared in Albany Magistrates Court on Friday via video link from Albany Regional Prison for sentencing on 22 charges, including 17 breaches of a family violence restraining order. He pleaded guilty to all 17 breaches on November 4, and was convicted on September 9 of three counts of common assault in circumstances of aggravation, a breach of protective bail, and unlawful assault causing bodily harm in circumstances of aggravation. Police prosecutor Sgt Dylan Fisher told the court Turner had assaulted both his partner and daughter in the family’s McKail home on January 19, shoving them both forcefully and using his forearm to hold his partner down by her neck while she was holding their infant son. He said on June 23, Turner shoved his partner backwards out the front door of their home and cut her face with a set of car keys in the process, leaving a gash that required treatment at Albany Health Campus. Later the same day Turner shouted verbal abuse and grabbed his partner around the neck while she was driving with their two young children in the car. Between July 9 and September 7, Turner was remanded in Albany Regional Prison and called his sister and stepdaughter in repeated attempts to speak to his partner and children, and to convince his partner to drop the charges and restraining order against him. His partner and all of their children were protected by a family violence restraining order at the time that banned Turner from speaking to them or trying to contact them. Sgt Fisher applied for Turner to be declared a serial family violence offender, which defence counsel Wendy Stewart opposed. Ms Stewart argued the breaches were at the lower end of the range of seriousness and said Turner was aware of the consequences of breaching the order but was “desperate” to talk to his family. She said Turner let arguments with his partner get out of hand but hadn’t meant to harm his partner or daughter and asked for any terms of imprisonment to be suspended. Magistrate Erin O’Donnell said she fundamentally disagreed with Ms Stewart’s characterisation of the breaches, saying coercive behaviour should be treated just as seriously as physical violence. She said Turner had let the frustrations of daily life get the better of him when he assaulted his partner and daughter, frustrations that “cannot be allowed to spill over into violence.” Turner was sentenced to two years and eight months behind bars, backdated to June 23, and was made eligible for parole. If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.