By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A serial violent offender is back in jail after an “unprovoked” attack on a woman living next-door in Doveton.
Bashkim Gashi, a 40-year-old cleaner with a long list of priors, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to intentionally causing injury to her in her home.
He was in a car outside as she returned home to meet another male friend in the early hours of 13 March 2021.
Gashi appeared to get upset when the victim told him not to talk to her friend and to get off her property, judge Amanda Chambers noted.
He spat in her face and threw a drink on her. His violence escalated when she hit him in self defence.
Gashi dragged her by the head with his hands around her neck, walked her into her house and threw her to the ground.
He punched her several times causing her to believe he wanted to kill her, as well as spitting on her again.
The victim pointed to a camera on the kitchen bench, telling him to “Smile you’re on camera.” Gashi struck her forcefully to the face with the camera, causing her face to bleed.
His parting words for the victim were she was a “dead girl walking”.
The woman was treated at Dandenong Hospital, requiring surgery for a lacerated lip. She also suffered a swollen cheek, bruised arm and cut finger.
In sentencing on 20 June, Judge Chambers said the attack left the victim feeling unsafe in her “dream home”, and wracked by anxiety, depression, sleeplessness and less confidence.
It was hard to understand what triggered Gashi’s violence after previously “amicable” relations with the neighbour, the judge said.
Gashi’s “uncontrolled anger” wasn’t fueled by drugs or alcohol.
Raised in Dandenong, Gashi had a strong work history but a long list of convictions for assaults, family violence, rioting, violent threats, breaching court orders and firearm offences.
In 2019, he was jailed and put on a CCO after pulling a gun during a violent conflict against a person protected by an intervention order.
A further ‘combination’ sentence was not appropriate, particularly given his history of breaching court orders. Past jail terms also didn’t deter him from acting violently, the judge noted.
Judge Chambers noted Gashi hadn’t used illicit drugs since his most recent release from jail in March 2022 as well as his early guilty plea and that he’d been stabbed in custody in 2016.
His rehabilitation prospects were however “guarded” – and the “unprovoked” and “serious” attack on the victim in light of his violent history warranted a jail term with a non-parole period.
Gashi was jailed for up to 21 months, with a non-parole period of 13 months. His term included 363 days in pre-sentence detention.
