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ABC News
ABC News
National
crime reporter Lia Harris

'Inadequate' sentence extended for NSW man who choked and raped estranged wife

A man who bashed, choked and raped his estranged wife in front of their toddler has had his jail sentence extended days before he was due to be released.

WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.

The NSW Supreme Court today found the man's original sentence, which enabled him to be released on parole next week, was inadequate and did not reflect a "crime of significant domestic violence".

The man, who can't be identified for legal reasons, was arrested in December 2018 after attacking his estranged wife at their family home when she arrived to pick up their two-year-old child as part of a shared custody agreement.

Court documents show her estranged husband punched her in the face three times, in front of their terrified toddler, before choking her with both hands.

The man pleaded guilty to four charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intentionally choke a person and aggravated sexual intercourse without consent.

District Court Judge David Wilson sentenced the 53-year-old to eight years in jail, with a non-parole period of four years, which was due to expire yesterday.

Judge Wilson took into account, in part, the man's lack of any prior criminal record, his show of remorse and had determined he was "unlikely to re-offend".

The man had already been granted parole, to be released on December 13.

But prosecutors made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing Judge Wilson had failed to properly assess the seriousness of the crimes and imposed a "manifestly inadequate" sentence.

On Wednesday three Supreme Court judges agreed the sentence was too lenient, upholding the appeal and re-sentencing the man to nine years and six months in jail.

He now won't be eligible for parole until September 2024.

In handing down the decision, Justice Sarah McNaughton wrote the crime "was a brutal aggravated rape by the respondent against his recently estranged wife in the family home".

"The rape occurred in circumstances where the respondent knew she was not consenting, and she was overcome by a forceful blow of such violence that she was rendered unconscious," she wrote.

Justice McNaughton also noted the victim had "suffered significant physical and psychological injury", and, had been left "humiliated".

District Court documents detailed the crimes, saying the victim regained consciousness during the rape and insisted on checking on their child, who was then hiding in the wardrobe crying.

The documents say the man then continued the sexual assault after handing the child a toy.

The woman then grabbed her toddler and ran from the house with no pants on, flagging down a passing driver, according to the documents.

Her estranged husband was arrested the next day.

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