South West man Joshua Mark Farrell already eligible for parole despite being jailed for family violence

Despite being jailed for “ongoing and persistent” violence against his then-partner, a 37-year-old West Busselton man is already eligible to be released on parole. Joshua Mark Farrell was handed a 20-month jail term in the Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after he was previously convicted of a number of violent offences including aggravated unlawful assault, aggravated common assault, impeding another person’s normal breathing and criminal damage or destruction of property. The court was told of a number of incidents that stemmed from verbal arguments between Farrell and his then-partner, dating back to December 2021. In that incident, Farrell and the victim got into a verbal argument inside her West Busselton home after the victim had been in an argument with her teenage son outside. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Tim Concannon told the court Farrell used a “karate-like” motion to strike the victim on the forehead and nose, causing her nose to bleed and a bruise the following day. Despite not initially reporting the incident to police out of fear of repercussions and blaming herself for the incident, the woman was assaulted by Farrell five months later after getting into another verbal argument while watching television. Farrell punched the woman in the face and then pursued her as she went outside her home to get away from him. Although she initially managed to push him away, he grabbed her from behind and placed her into a headlock for about 10 seconds, impeding her breathing. Farrell then released her and said “you’re lucky I let you go”. Less than a week later, another argument ensued between the couple after the woman told Farrell her son was scared of him and hated him, causing Farrell to become enraged and punch a hole in the master bedroom door. The offending came to a head on June 10 last year when Farrell went on an hour-long rant verbally abusing his then-partner and her son after they told him to leave the property following an argument from the night before. After packing a bag, Farrell grabbed the woman by her throat and pushed her against the fridge and made threats to kill her before letting go of her. As the woman and her son tried to leave the property, Farrell followed them and retrieved a shovel, causing them to flee to a neighbour’s house and call police. As they waited for police to arrive, Farrell used the shovel to smash the woman’s car before going back inside the property to damage two TV screens and cut power cords to the fridge and an Xbox gaming console. Farrell was later arrested and had been in custody on remand since. In submissions, Farrell’s defence counsel Michael Devlin said it was accepted that imprisonment was the only appropriate disposition for the offending. It was also submitted that Farrell had on occasion taken medication for psychiatric diagnoses. In sentencing, Magistrate Benjamin Tyers labelled Farrell’s offending as an “ongoing and persistent course of conduct” which was not out of character after Farrell’s criminal history revealed previous convictions for assault. “While it is not uncommon for couples to argue, it is unacceptable to resort to violence when things don’t go your way,” he said. The jail term was backdated to June 2022 when Farrell was arrested and he was granted parole eligibility after serving 10 months, already placing him in a position to potentially be released. However, Farrell was advised whether he gets parole was up to the Prisoners Review Board, not the court.