WA's highest court has more than doubled the jail term imposed on a Kimberley man whose "savage and frenzied attack" on his former partner left her a quadriplegic and totally dependent on others for her care.
Joshua Simon Yamalulu, 33, was originally sentenced to three years and eight months jail after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to 38-year-old Peggy Sue Button in February 2017 at a community in Fitzroy Crossing.
Yamalulu would have been eligible for release on parole last month, but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed against the sentence, arguing that it was "manifestly inadequate".
Yamalulu's original sentencing hearing in the District Court was told the couple had been in a relationship for about four years but it had ended and Ms Button had taken out a violence restraining order against him.
The attack happened after Yamalulu, angry and heavily intoxicated, found his former partner having sex with his brother.
Yamalulu twisted Ms Button's arm before repeatedly jumping on her chest, legs and head while she pleaded with him to stop.
Other people heard her screams and called the police, but Yamalulu fled from the scene when they arrived.
He was arrested the next day.
The court was told she was left with multiple injuries including broken bones and a brain injury that left her unable to speak and needing to be fed through a tube.
Victim beaten with a rock while pregnant
Details were also given of Yamalulu's criminal history and previous assaults on Ms Button, including one in 2014 when he punched her and bashed her with a rock when she was 22 weeks pregnant with their child.
In another assault in 2015, he used an empty glass bottle to hit her in the face, before repeatedly punching her, grabbing her by the neck and twisting her head.
In ruling this week that Yamalulu's sentence should be doubled, the WA Court of Appeal found that his crime was "undoubtedly at the upper end of the range of seriousness".
"(Yamalulu) committed a frenzied, savage and relentless attack upon a vulnerable, unarmed and defenceless woman," the court said.
"He inflicted shocking injuries … ignored (her) repeated pleas for him to stop attacking her. He showed her no mercy.
"(The victim) is permanently disabled and has an exceptionally high level of impairment. Her prospects of improvement are limited."
Accused had 'deprived' childhood
The court took into account that Yamalulu's upbringing was dysfunctional and deprived, but it said he was "a serious danger, at least when intoxicated, to women with whom he is, or has been, in a relationship".
"In our opinion, the sentence of three years, eight months immediate imprisonment was not commensurate with the seriousness of the offence. We are satisfied … that the length of the sentence was unreasonable or plainly unjust."
The court imposed a sentence of seven years and six months, meaning Yamalulu will be eligible for release in August 2022.
