Waverley man fired shotgun over partner's head into bedroom wall, jury hears

The woman was giving evidence in the trial of Bradley John Cashion of Waverly who has pleaded not guilty to a count of persistent family violence against the woman between December 2021 and February 4, 2022.

Crown prosecutor Peter Sherriff said that the jury would hear of three separate incidents.

The Crown must prove at least three counts of violence to find Mr Cashion guilty.

Defence counsel Fran McCracken said that all allegations were completely denied.

The only agreed fact would be that Mr Cashion and the woman had been in a relationship.

The woman said Mr Cashion brought the shotgun to her Ravenswood home on a night they were arguing "about everything".

"I just remember him having it in his hands," the woman said.

"What was he doing with it?, " Mr Sherriff asked.

"He was pointing it at his head saying he was going to kill himself," the woman replied.

"I kept telling him to put the gun down and he kept shouting that I would have to tell [his family] why he wasn't her any more.

"He shoved me onto the bed and I pleaded with him to take the gun away.

"He turned the gun towards me and said he would kill us both and without even hesitating he let the trigger go."

She said it was the loudest noise she had ever heard and it caused her ears to ring.

She said that he had grabbed her off the bed and told her they would have to leave because the neighbours would have heard it go off.

She said she saw Mr Cashion jump the back fence but she stayed in the house. He took the gun with him.

He returned shortly after without the gun and went to sleep.

The woman said that she waited for him to go to sleep and took a picture of the wall on her mobile phone.

She said there was a hole in the wall that went through to the next room.

She said her recollection was aided because the picture on her phone was taken about 6am on January 5 2022.

The woman said that she lost a baby shortly before Christmas 2021.

When Mr Sherriff asked if she had told Mr Cashion she said no.

"I just didn't want him to get angry," she said.

Around that time he brought a home made gun to her home and they argued about her miscarrying the baby.

"We were in the kitchen and he hit me a couple of times and then kicked me and then he ran away," she said.

The woman said she received black eye and a cut and had fallen to the floor.

She said the kicks were to her ribs and to her stomach.

He came back later that night but they did not really talk about it.

The jury heard that the couple argued over whether the baby was his and about her faithfulness.

"I guess so, yes," she said.

She told the court that Mr Cashion smashed her phone two days before the third incident in which he bit her on the left arm and threw her across a bedroom on February 4 2022.

The woman gave evidence in a case relating to Mr Cashion in the Launceston Magistrates Court on May 3 2022.

"Do you recall saying to a prosecutor 'we were both under the influence of drugs, so what the f---'?" Ms McCracken asked.

The woman said she had not wanted to give evidence in the case.

"Did you say 'we were popping pills every we didn't know what we were doing'?" Ms McCracken asked.

"That was a lie," the woman said.

She said she was using cannabis and methylamphetamine "whenever Bradley gave it to me".

"It all depended on Bradley's mood," she said.

The woman told Ms McCracken that she had told the court about the drug use because "that is what Bradley asked me to do".

After Ms McCracken ascertained that Mr Cashion was in jail until the Magistrate's Court case, the woman gave evidence that he told her what to say in court via letters and phone calls.

She agreed with a suggestion by Ms McCracken that she had never told police or the Department of Public Prosecutions about letters telling her what to say.

The woman denied a suggestion from Ms McCracken that the incidents had not occurred.

The jury was shown photographs taken by first-class constable Brett Tyson of a hole in the bedroom wall at the woman's home.

He said a hole on one side of the wall had been repaired.

The trial continues on Tuesday.