A man who hit a woman in the head with a mug after she told him she did not want a serious relationship has been jailed for 15 months.
Adam John Rex Stone, 31, pleaded guilty to wounding the woman, whom he had been casually seeing for about two months, at a house in Bridgewater, north of Hobart, in September last year.
Sentencing him in the Supreme Court on September 23, Justice Kate Cuthbertson described Stone’s conduct as “unprovoked and outrageous”.
The court heard that on the morning of September 23, 2025, Stone told the woman he wanted their relationship to become more serious. She told him she did not want that.
The pair later went to the Bridgewater house, where Stone was in the kitchen holding a mug.
As the woman walked into the kitchen, he said, “If I cannot have you no one can”, before forcefully hitting her on the left side of the head, Justice Cuthbertson said.
The mug broke and Stone left immediately.
The woman was left with a large cut next to her left ear, two smaller cuts to the ear and further cuts behind her ear and on her neck.
She was admitted to hospital overnight and needed stitches. The court heard she could not remember what happened immediately after the attack.
When police interviewed Stone in October last year, he denied being at the house, hitting the woman or knowing anything about her injuries.
But police found text messages on his phone, sent the day after the attack, in which he apologised for “doing it to U with the cup” but claimed he had not meant to.
Justice Cuthbertson said that because the pair had not been in a significant relationship, the offending was not classified as family violence, but it bore “many of the hallmarks” of it.
“Her decision not to take the relationship further was one you should have respected,” she said.
She said Stone’s words before the attack showed his “lack of respect for her decision, irrational jealousy and an attempt to exercise some form of control over her”.
The judge said Stone had a significant criminal history, including violent offences dating back to when he was 15 and had breached many previous court orders.
While she took into account his guilty plea and difficult upbringing, she said deterrence and denunciation were the most important sentencing considerations.
“It is important to send a message to you and others who share such unacceptable attitudes towards women that there is no place for such conduct,” she said.
Stone’s 15-month sentence was backdated to December 13, 2025.
