Tumbarumba man to remain in jail until late 2024 over bashing of mum and daughter

Patrick Pyke's violence came after his partner simply asked him to stop drinking alcohol in a shed on her property.

She had gone outside to ask for a speaker that she could use back inside the house.

But Pyke suddenly lost control, shoving her into a bush near the shed. Her daughter rushed over in fear for her mother's welfare, but was grabbed by Pyke who hit her in the face.

The daughter fell to the concrete and when Pyke's then partner tried to pull him away from her she got shoved into a pine retaining wall and struck to the mouth.

When the daughter tried to stop him again, Pyke once again struck the mother to her mouth.

Albury Local Court magistrate Sally McLaughlin said late on Tuesday afternoon, August 15, that these were two "serious examples" of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The attack on his ex-partner though was the more serious.

Pyke, who appeared via a video link to jail - he has been in custody since the incident on November 30, 2022 - had also previously pleaded guilty to possessing a shortened firearm without authority.

Defence lawyer Rohan Harrison said his client's attack on the older woman "was a fairly significant example of injury" and that while Pyke was "reckless" at first, his behaviour then became "intentional".

"The facts would suggest there's an underlying anger management issue that needs to be addressed," he said.

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Mr Harrison said Pyke certainly did not expect to be spending his 59^th birthday in custody in relation to two women "who were very important in his life".

But Director of Public Prosecutions representative Andrew Hanshaw said these were matters "that are very serious examples of domestic violence".

Mr Hanshaw submitted to Ms McLaughlin that an affidavit from Pyke in which he expressed his distaste for a prison job where he cleaned up blood in other inmates' cells - Pyke reached for a box of tissues when this was mentioned - was simply a regular jail work routine not unlike that of any other inmate.

"Both victims required treatment in hospital," he said, watched on in court by the mother and daughter.

"The offender's experience in custody does not compare with the experience of the victims."

The mother, now 52, received two broken ribs and loose teeth and the daughter, now 21, concussion and a laceration inside her mouth that needed sutures.

The court heard previously how the shortened shotgun was stored by Pyke in her locked gun safe in a shed on the Heinecke Lane property.

"He brought that firearm into the relationship," Mr Hanshaw said of Pyke, who served jail time in Tasmania for a similar offence, plus an assault, 19 years ago.

The seriousness of the gun charge, he said, was heightened because a shortened firearm was "easily concealed, easily stolen, easily used in an offence".

Ms McLaughlin said there was no doubting the grave nature of the firearm charge.

"I accept any possession of a firearm, let alone a shortened firearm, is a serious offence."

Pyke had been drinking heavily shortly before committing the assaults.

Ms McLaughlin imposed an aggregate sentence of two years and 10 months, with a non-parole period of one year and 10 months.

Pyke will be eligible for release on September 29, 2024.

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