Stella Magnisalis has delivered a powerful victim impact statement detailing years of violent abuse by her former husband, ex-police detective Matthew Alan Thomson, who pleaded guilty to six assault charges in the South Australian District Court.
Magnisalis told the court on Tuesday, April 15, that Thomson’s abuse spanned four years and continued even while she was pregnant.
“My silence was not consent. I was trained to be obedient, to hide my pain,” she said.
“You broke things to scare me, and eventually I was one of them. My home became a prison and I lived in constant fear. To this day, I still believe that you’re going to kill me.”
She described how Thomson, while working in the family violence sector, inflicted physical and psychological torment, including kicking her in the head and covering her body in bruises.
“Even while I was pregnant, the assaults never stopped. I thought carrying a child might spare me,” she said.
“Every year on my birthday, I cannot erase the smell, the texture, feeling utterly degraded after you wiped faeces on my face.”
According to The Advertiser, supporters applauded as she concluded her statement.
Their eight-year-old daughter Frances also addressed the court, recalling how Thomson once gave her a blood nose and calling his actions “disgusting, gross and unacceptable.”
Thomson, now 42, lives in Queensland with a new wife and newborn son. His lawyer cited a violent upbringing, but Judge Anthony Allen said his role as a serving police officer at the time of the abuse aggravated the offences.
“There needs to be an element of sentence that denounces the fact that someone who’s responsible for enforcing the law has broken it,” Judge Allen said.
Sentencing is set for June.
Source: The Advertiser.
