A man already serving time for the fatal assault of his girlfriend's infant son has now admitted to a terrifying attack on the woman just 13 days earlier.
Benjamin Joseph Swann, 31, was sentenced to 13 years in prison last November for the death of his partner's 115-day-old child, Elijah, in January 2024. Swann, who began dating the boy's mother while she was pregnant, fatally injured the infant in the early hours of January 19 after staying over to help care for him.
The former carpenter appeared via video link in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning and pleaded guilty to a separate charge of recklessly causing injury. The court heard that on January 6, 2024, at Swann's home in Manor Lakes, he attacked his then-partner after she said she wanted to leave following an argument.
Swann punched the woman repeatedly to the head and body before grabbing her by the neck and choking her on the bed. According to prosecutors, the woman feared she would pass out after Swann placed a pillow over her face. She managed to push him off and begged him to stop, fearing for her life.
In response, Swann's lawyer said he had been seeking help from his GP in the week before the incident for anger issues, with doctor's notes indicating Swann said it had "got worse recently" and was "affecting the relationship with his partner." The lawyer added that Swann came from a good family and had a strong work history prior to being taken into custody following Elijah's death.
The court was told Swann had spent most of his 2½ years in jail to date in protective custody. Handing down the sentence, magistrate Kieran Gilligan found a jail term was the only appropriate penalty. "Family violence is a scourge on society," he said. "I'm afraid it's my experience in this court it continues to grow exponentially."
Swann was sentenced to 12 months to be served concurrently with his existing sentence, resulting in no increase to his time in custody. Under the terms of his sentence for killing Elijah, he will be eligible for parole after serving 9½ years. He was supported in court by family members, including his parents, and waved to his mother over the video link as the case ended.
Handing down the sentence for child homicide in the Victorian Supreme Court last year, Justice James Gorton said Swann had hoped to be a father figure to Elijah. About 3am on January 19, he was asked by the boy's mother to feed the baby, with the woman later hearing a "loud bang" from the infant's room. Swann returned to the bedroom and handed her the baby, saying: "Take this f***ing baby."
The woman noticed Elijah was struggling to breathe and called triple-0 as Swann performed CPR. Elijah was taken off life support the following day after a severe traumatic brain injury and significant cranial trauma were deemed not survivable. In the days that followed, Swann denied harming the child and falsely sought to point police towards the boy's mother.
"Your actions were unpremeditated, and short-lived, and contributed to by the frustration that all tired parents experience when a newborn baby refuses to settle," Justice Gorton said. "Elijah was newly born and entirely defenceless."
Swann's latest guilty plea adds to his record of family violence, highlighting the tragic sequence of events that led to the death of a helpless infant and the abuse of his partner. The magistrate's comments underscore the ongoing issue of family violence in society, with this case serving as a stark reminder of its devastating consequences.
