Sam Wood makes second bail bid on domestic violence charges, court told of anger issues

Sam Wood, 46, a former star of the reality show The Bachelor, has made a second bid for bail in a Queensland court on domestic violence charges, having been held in custody since his arrest at Noosa on 4 October.

He is charged with two domestic violence offences: assault occasioning bodily harm and strangulation in a domestic setting. His legal team has indicated he will fight the charges. He was initially denied bail over allegations that he choked and assaulted his wife, Snezana Wood, while the family was holidaying on the Sunshine Coast.

Earlier hearing

At the initial bail hearing, police prosecutor Jeanette Grigoris told the court that Snezana Wood was supportive of the charges, and described a video-recorded statement in which, the prosecutor said, she described her head being banged on the floor and said she could not breathe. "She thought she was going to die," Grigoris told the earlier hearing. The court heard there was "a cessation of breath".

Second bid

Wood has now launched a bail bid in the supreme court. The more serious strangulation charge places him in a "show cause" position, where there is a presumption against bail unless he can demonstrate he does not pose a risk of re-offending.

On Friday, Wood's lawyer, Paula Morreau KC, said there was no suggestion Wood "suffered from addiction", despite crown submissions that he used drugs and alcohol and engaged in a "party lifestyle".

Morreau said that if granted bail, Wood proposed to reside in Tasmania, where his father lives, and would agree to a condition "to not enter Victoria", where Snezana Wood lives. At the earlier application, Wood had sought bail to reside in Melbourne.

She said Wood had been suffering "significant stressors" and that he "struggles with anger", but that in such situations "he usually leaves and takes time". "He shows he has the capacity for self-control," she said. Wood's legal team proposed he undergo a "men's behavioural change" course if released on bail.

Crown opposition

Crown prosecutor Jessica Guy said there were "serious features" to the allegations that Wood assaulted and strangled his wife. Wood "didn't desist", she said, and the violence "extended beyond the application of force to her neck, to the banging of her head to the floor of the skirting boards". It occurred in the presence of an adult witness and in the close proximity of young children, she said, and the crown submitted his conduct had escalated.

Morreau told the court that "a person that he is close to" had offered a "very substantial" surety to guarantee he would return to Queensland to face the charges. She argued that a trial could take more than a year and that there was "a very real prospect" that, if not bailed, Wood would spend more time in custody before sentence than would be imposed if he were found guilty of the charges.

Wood is being held at the high-security Wolston correctional centre near Brisbane. He was not brought to the court for Friday's hearing.

Source: The Guardian World.