A judge has reserved his decision in the trial of a pub owner accused of bashing his partner so severely that her blood was splashed on the ceiling and wall.
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David Anthony O'Brien, 52, went on trial in ACT Supreme Court on charges of unlawful confinement and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The judge only trial, before Justice John Burns, has heard O'Brien - who has an interest in three regional NSW pubs - and the woman had been in a relationship in August last year.
The prosecution has alleged they were in a car returning from a party in the early hours of a Sunday morning when O'Brien allegedly punched the woman in the face.
The court heard O'Brien then beat and choked the woman for two hours, punching her repeatedly and leaving her with serious bruising and blood loss.
The defendant then allegedly kept her hostage at his Deakin home throughout the day, dragging her back into the house when she tried to flee and refusing her pleas for medical treatment.
O'Brien instructed her to give a false story to explain her injuries when he finally took her to Calvary Hospital the following day.
But the alleged victim told hospital staff O’Brien had inflicted the injuries and they called police.
O’Brien pleaded not guilty to unlawful confinement and choking the victim.
He admitted to one count of assault by hitting the woman, but disputed the facts alleged by the prosecution.
In final submissions on Friday, defence barrister Ray Livingston said his client should not have been charged twice with the same offence.
Mr Livingston argued the prosecution could not prove the alleged choke was a separate incident.
He said the woman’s evidence had been at times exaggerated and vague in providing a coherent sequence.
The defence said he had not confined the woman, saying she had chosen to stay.
But prosecutor Anthony Williamson said it was implausible that the woman would want to stay in the same house as a man who had just subjected her to a severe and intense beating.
Mr Williamson said the evidence from an emergency department nurse that the alleged victim had cried blood was an example of the extreme nature of the assault.
“Of course she wanted medical attention,” Mr Williamson said.
“The only reason she didn’t get it was because the accused wouldn’t let her go.”
The Crown labeled O’Brien a “compulsive liar” and asked Justice Burns to reject the defence version of events.