THE man acquitted of bashing to death a Mildura toddler in 2015 has been jailed for what a magistrate described as an “appalling” attack on a woman at Robinvale last year.
Thirty-eight-year-old John Torney choked the woman to the point of unconsciousness, punched her to the head numerous times and threatened to burn down the woman’s house with her and her children in it.
Torney this week pleaded guilty to charges including make threat to kill and multiple counts of assault.
The court was told that during one of the assaults, Torney grabbed the victim by the throat with one hand causing her to pass out for a short time.
About a month later, in March last year, Torney and the victim argued about drugs before he punched her multiple times to the head and swung a metal torch which also struck the woman to the head.
When the victim got into her car to leave, Torney jumped onto the bonnet and used a leg to smash the windscreen.
The court heard that during an earlier incident, Torney became angry when the woman attempted to walk away from a verbal argument and said to her: “You are the only one who owns a house, you don’t deserve it. I will burn it all with you and the f…ing kids in it. I don’t give a f…”
A 2016 Supreme Court jury found Torney not guilty of both murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter following the discovery of two-year-old Nikki Francis-Coslovich in the roof cavity of her Oram Court home in August the previous year.
Torney admitted to hiding her body in the roof, but said it was the girl’s mother and his ex-partner Peta-Ann Francis who killed her.
Admitting to the most recent charges this week, the Mildura Magistrates’ Court was told the accused had a “long, serious criminal history”.
Magistrate Patrick Southey noted that Torney “regrettably enjoys a certain degree of notoriety in this part of the world”, and his plans to move away from Sunraysia for a “fresh start” if released from custody appeared sensible.
In sentencing Torney to 377 days in custody already served as well as an 18-month Community Corrections Order, Mr Southey said the accused had had a difficult upbringing and it was clear from his prior convictions in Mildura and Swan Hill that he suffered significant mental health problems, “no doubt exacerbated by his drug use”.
“Jail is clearly warranted but he has served a sufficient time and, in my view, can and should be released on a Corrections Order to start afresh in a different part of Victoria,” Mr Southey said.
“Arguably 377 days is more than most people would receive for these charges, but he has got a pretty serious criminal history,” he said.
“The offences were appalling and you have got a bad history, but in my view, and the prosecution sensibly and fairly agree, you have served enough time in jail.
“He regrettably enjoys a certain degree of notoriety in this part of the world and very sensibly, it seems to me, plans to move away from this area and rejoin some family members in a different part of Victoria.”
Mr Southey said Torney had volunteered to undertake a CCO which suggested that he was “fair dinkum” about making a fresh start in a new town.
“Get help with drug issues, mental health issues and do other programs that might stop this depressing cycle of going to jail and being released and just going back again,” the Magistrate said.
“I would have been content to give him time served without a Corrections Order but he, very sensibly, thinks that he would benefit from it and might help him stay out of trouble in the future.”
Torney’s 2016 trial was told that Nikki Francis-Coslovich died from internal injuries by repeated blows to her torso inflicted by “someone strong”.
The acquitted man said he first intended to dig a hole and bury Nikki’s body in the backyard, but reconsidered because he thought his dog might dig it up.
No-one has been subsequently been charged over Nikki’s death.
