Suspended jail term for abusive former Miss Australia
Ethan James |
A former Miss Australia and ex-politician who physically and verbally abused her husband over eight years has been given a seven-month suspended jail term.
Kathryn Isobel Hay,`49, also controlled and intimidated then-partner Troy Richardson, and verbally and physically abused the couple’s two children.
In 1999, Hay was crowned Miss Tasmania and Miss Australia, the first Aboriginal woman to win the award, and served in the island state’s parliament as a Labor MP from 2002-06.
She was found guilty in March of a single charge of emotional abuse or intimidation spanning 2014 to 2022.
It was alleged Hay punched Mr Richardson in the face, threw cereal at him and frequently abused him online and in person.
Mr Richardson gave evidence that Hay hit him in the face with a shoe several times while he was driving because he “just didn’t do something right”.
He said there were threats of violence at least weekly and Hay would give him lists of things that needed to be done.
“If it wasn’t done properly I’d get abuse. If it was done, she’d give me another list.”
In a statement read to court on his behalf on Friday, Mr Richardson said he now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety, and their children struggle with distress.
Mr Richardson said he feared no one would believe him about the abuse, which left him “completely isolated”.
Magistrate Simon Brown found the majority of the particulars against Hay, who now lives in Sydney, had been proven.
A psychologist’s report found Hay had shown a complete lack of insight into her offending, prosecutor Garth Stevens told Launceston Magistrates Court.
However, Hay’s lawyer Marcia Edwards disputed that interpretation, saying her client accepted the court’s findings and it was more “a disbelief than a denial”.
Hay was grappling with thoughts of “did I do this?’, Ms Edwards said.
“There was a fight between a husband and a wife, it was the end of a toxic marriage … and the court has taken a view of this,” she said.
Hay, who was at times in tears during proceedings, was given a seven-year jail term, suspended for two-and-a-half years on the condition she doesn’t commit an imprisonable crime.
Mr Brown said Hay’s conduct was a serious example of family violence and Mr Richardson’s time in the marriage would have been extraordinarily difficult.
Hay, who the court was told suffers from mental health issues, did not have “genuine insight into the extent of her wrongdoing”, Mr Brown said.
However, he noted Hay’s childhood was blighted by family violence and she was suffering genuine distress after her offending.
She had lost contact with her children, was no longer able to get meaningful work and had been the subject of enormous media attention.
“Her reputation is obviously in tatters,” Mr Brown said.
Hay is living at a women’s shelter and was working on herself through free courses because she had no money, Ms Edwards said.
“If she were to enter another relationship, these courses are fairly and squarely teaching you how to behave in an adult world,” she said.
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AAP
