Katanning man Billy-Jack Williams declared Great Southern’s first serial family violence offender

A 29-year-old Katanning man who hit his partner in the face with the blunt end of a machete has been declared the Great Southern’s first serial family violence offender. Billy-Jack Williams appeared in Albany Magistrate’s court via video link from Albany Regional Prison last Thursday for a spate of violent offences against two former intimate partners. Williams was sentenced to 25 months behind bars, backdated to October 24, for nine charges including being armed in a way that may cause fear, trespassing, common assault, and breaking two police orders. The court was told on the night of September 28 last year, Williams was with his partner and a witness at a home in Katanning when he pushed her to the bed, stood over her, and struck her in the face with the blunt end of a machete. Williams demanded that the terrified woman leave the home with him, before standing in the hallway with a butcher’s knife and the machete, Police prosecutor Sgt Alan Dean told the court. He was swearing and threatening to kill his partner and others in the house. He dragged her to the door by her hair before fleeing the scene, while his partner hid under a bed. Then, on March 21, Williams was at his father’s home in Katanning when he assaulted another partner. He hit the woman in the back with a metal object, opening a wound, before striking her in the face and forehead, “causing her to taste blood”, Sgt Dean said. Sgt Dean made an application for Williams to be declared a serial family violence offender, which was granted by Magistrate Dianne Scaddan. He told the court Williams’ record of domestic violence dated back to 2014 and he would “pose a risk” to any current or future intimate partners. Serial family violence offender declarations were introduced on January 1, allowing courts to make the declaration against anyone who commits three or more acts of family violence in a 10-year period. Serial offenders are barred from holding a firearms or explosives licence. Defence lawyer Michael Laurino agreed Williams had an “extensive record of violence” and fit the criteria to be made a serial offender. He said Williams had a “sad and disadvantaged childhood” during which violence and drug use were normalised from as young as seven. “Meth has been a big problem for him,” he said. Mr Laurino said a psychological report found violence was “an entrenched part of this man’s personality”, and argued he needed more intensive intervention. “Despite what is an atrocious record, there is still time for him to make changes in his life,” he said. Ms Scaddan said the serial family violence offender status was designed to be “both protective and preventable” and was about “highlighting the community’s denunciation of family violence”. “In my view, that threshold has clearly been met in Mr Williams’ case,” she said. “It is really apparent there is a high risk of committing further family violence.” She said a term of imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence as most of his offences were committed in aggravation, with a weapon, predominantly against an intimate partner, and in breach of police orders. Great Southern Police Acting Sen. Sgt Shannon McGeown said the declaration would remain in place unless the serial family violence offender had it cancelled through the court. Even then, he could not apply to have the declaration cancelled in the decade after it was made. “The court would have to be satisfied that they no longer pose the same level of risk of re-offending before cancelling the declaration,” Acting Sen. Sgt McGeown said. “Going forward, the Prisoners Review Board must consider making an order for electronic monitoring if a serial family violence offender is released on parole for family violence offending.” Acting Sen. Sgt McGeown said electronic monitoring could also be ordered by a court when sentencing a serial offender for subsequent family violence offending. “The serial family violence offender declarations also provide a presumption against bail for future family violence offending by serial family violence offenders,” he said. “The law can now operate to not only punish and denounce family violence offending, but to also provide a mechanism for these high-risk individuals to be tightly managed by electronically monitoring their movements as part of ordered supervision, and making bail very difficult for family violence re-offending.”