A MAN has been jailed after going on a violent rampage when he saw his brother and wife having sex in the back of a car while his mum was in the driver’s seat.
David McCulloch from Tasmania, was sentenced to three years in jail after he pleaded guilty to several assault charges, possession of cannabis, and having a homemade firearm.
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The 41-year-old’s sentence was handed down on Friday after he shouted death threats at his family while brandishing a shovel on March 28.
Court documents stated that on that day, McCulloch attempted to call his wife, Jacinta King, multiple times and became suspicious when no one answered, according to The Daily Mail.
The pair had been living with David’s mother, Sue, and it was revealed that she had driven King to the home of her older son, Jamie McCulloch.
Sue picked him up and took her son and daughter-in-law to a nearby carpark where they started having sex in the back of the vehicle, while she remained in the front.
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McCulloch found his wife and brother and immediately started punching his brother before turning on his wife, pushing her out of the vehicle and punching her in the head.
When Jamie attempted to flee the scene, McCulloch started beating him with a shovel he had retrieved from his car while saying he would “kill them all.”
As Sue attempted to stop her sons from fighting, she was pushed backwards into a bin.
Jamie eventually managed to escape the area and in frustration, McCulloch broke the shovel on the car and used the handle to beat his wife, before punching her in the eye.
The pair had been in a relationship for 25 years, married for six, during which time they had four children and got matching tattoos.
McCulloch was arrested and escorted to Devonport Police Station after neighbours called the police.
Meanwhile, his wife and brother were taken to Mersey Community Hospital with bruising and minor cuts.
During his interview with police, the scorned husband felt no remorse for his attack, saying that his brother “deserved it.”
He also admitted that he had a homemade firearm and ammunition at home.
A search of his home revealed 240g of cannabis in zip-lock bags which he confessed to selling and supplying, as well as the unsecured firearm which was in a pile of laundry.
‘MORALLY PROVOCATIVE’
During his sentencing at the Burnie Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Tamara Jago noted that the scene McCulloch was met with in the carpark as he searched for his wife was “confronting.”
Jago said: “The betrayal by your wife and brother, and the apparent acquiescence of your mother, must have been upsetting.
“And whilst one can appreciate that would give rise to a level of angst and frustration, it in no way excuses what you then did.
“It does, however, place your behaviour into a specific context.
“This was not premeditated or planned behaviour, but rather was a spontaneous reaction to you discovering a difficult situation involving a breach of trust.”
The judge noted that while McCulloch intended to commit severe bodily harm to his brother, “the actual harm occasioned was moderate” as many of the blows from the shovel missed his body.
She called the violence “exceptionally serious” and told McCulloch that he “reacted most inappropriately” to the “morally provocative” incident.
“But, I accept it was an emotive response to the circumstances that you had discovered,” she added.
The judge ruled that it was highly unlikely McCulloch would re-offend and this combined with his early pleas of guilt meant he was sentenced to three years and had to pay a $1,000 (£512) fine.
However, the last 18 months of this sentence will be suspended if he does not commit any other crimes for two years.
With the sentence being backdated to May 7, he is eligible for parole in February.
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