Ballarat Magistrates Court family violence sentencing questioned by victim survivor

Hospitality worker and mum of three Kaisey Cachia, 37, sought help from the justice system earlier this year when a man she'd recently ended a relationship with left an expletive-laden voicemail message, threatening to murder her family and burn her house down.

"Listen here you f---ing little c---t - if you don't return my shit right now, I'll come 'round now and murder your whole family and burn your house down, you thieving f---ing c---t," the message said.

"You think you're a f---ing joke you little c---t - you better f---ing return my phone call you b-tch or I'll wreck you like a f---ing dog," it continued.

An intervention order was put in place and police charged the man with threats to kill and threats to destroy property.

He pleaded guilty as charged at a Ballarat Magistrates' Court hearing in June, telling the court he had a tendency to "get frustrated easily" and "lose [his] temper".

In handing down the man's sentence, the magistrate commented that threats "can be really psychologically harmful".

"People often forget how serious threats are," the magistrate said.

"I often explain it to people: if you punch someone, the punch is over, but when you make a threat - threat to kill, threat to harm, threat to destroy property - that threat lingers for a very long period of time in the mind of the person who's on the receiving end."

The sentence was an $800 fine with no conviction recorded - considered appropriate because of the man's "good character" and lack of criminal history.

The magistrate decided not to order the offender complete a men's behaviour change program because this would be too difficult to fit in around his work as an interstate truck driver.

The man told the court he was already enrolled in such a program but was yet to start.

Kaisey said the court process left her with "no hope" for her own safety or that of her children, sending the message that it's "completely fine" that they are living in fear.

After Googling the possible sentences for death threats, she wasn't expecting the maximum - 10 years' jail - but thought "at the very least" her ex-partner would be put on a Community Corrections Order to lessen his chances of reoffending.

"It wasn't even that - it was $800 which is not even two days' wage," Kaisey said.

"It's pathetic.

"I've got three kids at home and I don't know what to do - do I just sit here and wait to die?"

Still so anxious she shakes and struggles to sleep, Kaisey wanted to share her experience to increase awareness of how the system deals with family violence matters and potentially improve outcomes for other survivors.

"It's over for me - the court's made its ruling - the best I can hope for is to save the next girl," Kaisey said.

"You see all this crap on TV about how they're cracking down on it [family violence] - I just want people to know, it's not what they're being told."

The 2015 Royal Commission Into Family Violence found responses to family violence in Victoria had a tendency to "dismiss, trivialise and misunderstand" family violence and that this view had sometimes manifested in the imposition of "inadequate or inconsistent" court sentences.

The Commission found that while the introduction of new sentencing powers was not necessary, there was "scope to improve current practices and processes" through education, training and embedding best practice and family violence specialisation in the courts.

The findings highlighted "limited effectiveness" of imprisonment as a means of deterring offenders, rehabilitating offenders and reducing crime.

They broadly supported Community Corrections Orders as a way to provide a "swift and certain" approach to justice under existing laws.

Then-deputy secretary of the Department of Justice and Regulation Marisa De Cicco told the Commission the justice system could fulfil an important role in responding to family violence, but that criminal law responses were "only one part of what needs to be an integrated and holistic response".

"Any changes to the criminal law must be considered in the broader context; they cannot provide a total solution to the problem," Ms De Cicco said.

The Central Highlands Integrated Family Violence Committee (CHIFVC) was contacted for comment.

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