Jake Bruce Tamaroa Tibbits: Albany man jailed for assaulting partner five times and attempt to pervert justice

An Albany man who used “emotional blackmail” to coerce a witness to drop domestic violence charges has been imprisoned in a case that “strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system”. Jake Bruce Tamaroa Tibbits assaulted his 24-year-old ex-partner five times over 11 months. On June 13, 2023, Tibbits shook the victim, pulled her hair, and blocked the door when she tried to leave her Spencer Park home. He shook her again the next day and repeatedly pushed her down as she tried to get up. On March 7, 2024, Tibbits grabbed the victim by the hair when she tried to leave the house, throwing her to the ground before throttling her until she blacked out. She came to when he elbowed her in the face. The attack left her with pain and bruising to her face, neck, arms and legs. The following night, the victim punched Tibbits in the eye as he approached her. Tibbits dragged her down a hallway by her hair and throttled her until she fell unconscious. In the morning, Tibbits pinned her to a bed, elbowing and headbutting her in the face until she bit him in self-defence. The 33-year-old was arrested on April 17, 2024, and charged with nine domestic violence offences, three of which were later dropped. On April 29, while in custody at Albany Regional Prison, he made two calls to the victim telling her to drop the charges. He was subsequently charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, to which he pleaded guilty along with two counts of aggravated common assault, two counts of unlawful assault causing bodily harm and two counts of impeding a person’s normal breathing by applying pressure to the neck. He was sentenced for the phone calls in Albany District Court on February 10 and for the six domestic violence charges in Albany Magistrates Court on February 13. Both District Court Judge John Bowden and Magistrate Erin O’Donnell dismissed Tibitts’ positive character references with Judge Bowden noting Tibbits had previously breached family violence restraining orders in 2017. “The reality is that insofar as domestic violence is concerned, by its very nature, it occurs in circumstances where there usually aren’t any witnesses, and people that you know from the outside world, so to speak, aren’t privy to what happens behind closed doors,” Judge Bowden said. Judge Bowden said while the calls — in which Tibbits offered to seek counselling, told the victim he would walk away from the relationship and move to Queensland and talked about the difficulties he was having — did not involve any threat of violence nor bribery, Tibbits used “emotional tactics” on the victim “exercising manipulative and coercive control”. “All the calls were, really, based on your own self-interest, and they were examples of emotional blackmail, or coercive control,” he said. “They showed that, at the time, you clearly setting about exercising controlling behaviour over the victim, and you were concerned, really, about no one other than yourself.” A pre-sentence report said the father of two has treatment needs for family violence and a record of breaching violence restraining orders. Judge Bowden said general deterrence was the overriding consideration in sentencing and anything short of immediate imprisonment “would fail to recognise the seriousness of the offence”. “It has been said by others that it strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system,” he said. “You attempted to manipulate a victim by getting her to withdraw the complaint against you, in circumstances where you knew that she would be the primary witness against you, and you had been charged with offences against her.” “The photographs show she is absolutely covered in bruises and the physical impacts are obvious,” Magistrate O’Donnell said. “This type of offending is a precursor to fatal incidents.” Judge Bowden sentenced Tibbits to 12 months imprisonment backdated to June 21, 2024, with a further one year and four months jail added to his sentence by Magistrate O’Donnell. He will be eligible for parole after serving one year and two months. If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.