By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A man with a violent history been jailed over the bashing of two intimate partners as well as a “random” man in a Cranbourne pub.
Ashley Patric Murphy, 32, faced 20 offences relating to drugs, violence and driving at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard he squeezed and twisted a partner’s neck and threw her to ground during an argument in 2018.
In March this year, a second partner suffered visible bruising to her head and legs during what Murphy told police was a “push and shove”.
She struck her head on a timber handrail and cut her leg on the ground.
In the lead-up, the pair had been “bingeing” on drugs, according to Murphy.
He claimed the victim had first stabbed him in the wrist with the edge of a glass pipe.
In April 2018, an intoxicated Murphy punched a male stranger in the face and yelled abuse as he was escorted out of Settlement Hotel, Cranbourne by security officers.
Later, Murphy climbed a glass fence to the courtyard and spat twice at the same victim, hitting the man’s polo shirt.
He told a psychologist he’d started drinking in a pub in Pakenham that night, then a drinking hole in Berwick and didn’t recall the incident in Cranbourne.
Murphy also pleaded guilty to disqualified driving, refusing a drug-driving test, driving without an alcohol interlock and breaching bail conditions and intervention orders.
He had been given opportunities for CCO treatment in the past.
“It’s obvious you pose a real risk to the community,” sentencing magistrate Suzette Doojtes said on 15 July.
Murphy’s “substantial” drug addiction, his genuine attempts to stop, and his mental health issues were noted.
His prospects for rehabilitation though were “not high” given his lengthy history of similar offending, Ms Doojtes said.
Ms Doojtes sentenced him to jail followed by a community corrections order to support his attempts to reform – which she said was also in the community’s interest.
Murphy was jailed for seven months plus an 18-month CCO with supervision and treatment.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Murphy had already served 132 days of the term in pre-sentence custody.
