A NILE father-of-four attacked his mistress with a tow ball when texts from his wife disrupted what was supposed to be a secret weekend away at Deloraine, a court heard yesterday.
When the mistress asked him if he was trying to kill her, he answered "yes".
Michael Richard Keith Shelton, 51, and 45-year-old Hobart woman Julie Routledge began a two-and-a-half-year affair when Shelton separated from his wife.
It continued for a year after the married couple reconciled, then came to an abrupt end when the weekend away culminated in criminal charges.
With his wife and children sitting metres from his former mistress in the public gallery of the Supreme Court in Launceston yesterday, Shelton pleaded guilty to criminal code assault against Ms Routledge on June 20.
Crown prosecutor John Ransom told the court the victim became upset after Shelton received several text messages from his wife while they were together.
They argued and then he drove her to Gardeners Ridge and grabbed the tow ball from the back seat of the car.
He then hit her with it in a surprise attack from behind.
Despite a deep gash to her head, Ms Routledge wrestled with her lover, eventually taking the weapon from him.
They returned home.
"The crime ... has absolutely devastated me and I don't know how I'll ever get over it," she told the court - after seeking permission to read her victim-impact statement aloud from the witness stand.
"I gave my heart, my trust and all that I had to this man in what was a cowardly act of violence on a hillside in an isolated area on a cold, dark night."
Shelton sat in the dock with his head bowed while his family listened to Ms Routledge's tearful three-page statement.
She described "dozens of emails and text messages" from Shelton, "telling me no one has ever treated him so well or loved him as much as I did".
She criticised his relationship with his wife and said she had "paid dearly" for his inability to "walk away from her
forever".
Afterwards - speaking on his client's behalf - defence lawyer Adrian Hall revealed Ms Routledge had written to Shelton after he was locked up in Launceston's remand centre.
She initially did not want to press charges.
"She wrote to him saying she forgave him and asking him to call her ... (saying) she still loved him, etc, etc," Mr Hall said.
Shelton has not made contact since the assault.
Mr Hall said the incident was not premeditated and the injury "wasn't - perhaps only by good luck or good measurement" - very serious.
"The offence may have been brought about by (Shelton) not feeling himself at the time due to stress and depression," he said.
He offered Ms Routledge an "unreserved apology" on behalf of his client.
He said Shelton's offending behaviour was "very much an aberration" and asked Justice Alan Blow to impose a wholly
suspended jail term.
The judge said he was considering community service as a punishment and ordered Shelton's suitability be assessed before he returns to court on Friday for sentencing.
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