"A warning to you, if you start this behaviour up again the court will view it extremely seriously," Magistrate Fiona McCarron told a Parkes man appearing before her in Parkes Local Court on an assault charge.
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Garry Broderick Clarke (46) of Dalton Street, Parkes, was in court on Monday, February 3 to face a charge of common assault (domestic violence related) at Parkes on December 27, 2019.
According to police facts tendered in court Police were called to Cooke Park at 7.30pm on Friday, December 27, after reports were made to a 000 operator that a male was seen assaulting a female.
Police attended and located the victim who appeared to have been crying, however she was reluctant to provide police with details as to what had happened.
Clarke could not be located and was not spoken to at the time.
Later that evening police were called to the victim's home. She wanted Clarke removed from the house and he was taken away by a family member.
The victim admitted to police that Clarke had smacked her in the face earlier at Cooke Park.
On January 9 Clarke attended Parkes Police Station for an arranged interview where he admitted to using his open left hand to slap the victim to the side of her face.
Clarke indicated he had been drinking heavily before hand, and that, combined with his working long hours, family related stress and the argument between them, had influenced his actions.
Police said Clarke appeared regretful and remorseful for his actions.
He told police he was not proud of what had happened.
Clarke was represented by Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor Vinith Vijay and entered a plea of guilty.
Magistrate Fiona McCarron told the court Clarke has been out of trouble for a considerable amount of time.
"His last court appearance was in 2011," she said.
"Although this is a less serious example of this kind of offending behaviour, domestic violence must be viewed extremely seriously by the court.
"Mr Clarke you appear to have demonstrated insight into your behaviour, you have indicated remorse and contrition and I take that into account
"Your record indicates that you have a past history of this sort of behaviour, however there seems to have been a lengthy break in offending.
If you start this behaviour up again the court will view it extremely seriously.
- Magistrate McCarron
"I am taking into account the fact that you haven't committed an offence like this for a long period of time.
"If you had a more lengthy record and the assault was more serious then I would consider a more significant penalty."
Magistrate McCarron placed Clarke on a conditional release order for 12 months with conviction.
