A scorned husband who found his wife and brother having sex in the back of a car while his mother sat in the driver’s seat has been jailed after he went on a rampage with a shovel while shouting that he was ‘going to kill them all’. .
David McCulloch, 41, was sentenced to three years behind bars in the Supreme Court in Burnie, Tasmania’s north, on Friday after pleading guilty to a string of assaults, along with possession of cannabis and a homemade firearm.
According to court documents, the situation began on March 28 when McCulloch attempted to call his wife, Jacinta King, several times, but she did not answer her phone.
The couple, who met when they were teenagers and have been together for 25 years, have four adult children together and matching tattoos. They married six years ago and share a house with his mother, Sue McCulloch.
On the evening of the incident, Mrs McCulloch had driven Mrs King to the home of her eldest son, Jamie McCulloch. Once they picked him up, she drove to a block of units and stopped in a nearby parking lot.
When McCulloch was unable to reach his wife, he became suspicious and drove to the car park where Mrs King was having sex with his brother Jamie in the back of the car.
Incredibly, his mother sat at the front, seemingly unperturbed by what was happening behind her.
David McCulloch and Jacinta King are pictured on their wedding day in 2018
Jamie McCulloch (pictured) had sex with his sister-in-law in the back of a car while his mother sat in the front seat
McCulloch opened the back door of the car and began punching his brother in the chest and body, before pushing his wife against the car window and hitting her in the head several times.
When Jamie jumped out of the car and tried to escape, McCulloch grabbed a shovel from his car and began beating his brother while shouting death threats.
His mother tried to intervene and was pushed backwards into a dumpster.
When Jamie successfully escaped, an enraged McCulloch hit the car so hard that it broke into two pieces. He then used the broken handle to hit his wife on the head before punching her in the eye.
Neighbors called the police and McCulloch was arrested and taken to Devonport police station. Jamie and Mrs King were taken to Mersey Community Hospital with bruises and minor cuts.
When interviewed by police, McCulloch expressed extreme frustration over the incident, claiming his brother “deserved it.”
He also told authorities about a homemade firearm and ammunition he had at home.
Sue McCulloch (pictured) took Mrs King, her daughter-in-law and her eldest son to a car park so they could have sex
Mrs King and David McCulloch (pictured) have been together for 25 years and married for six
When police raided the property, they found the unsecured gun in the laundry and approximately 240 grams of cannabis in ziplock bags. He later admitted to selling and supplying the drug.
During sentencing on Friday, Judge Tamara Jago accepted that the circumstances surrounding the violence were ‘confronting’.
She said: ‘The betrayal by your wife and brother, and the apparent resignation of your mother, must have been disturbing, and whilst you can understand that this would give rise to a level of fear and frustration, it in no way excuses what happened you then did. did.
‘It does place your behavior in a specific context.
“This was not premeditated or planned behavior, but rather a spontaneous response to you discovering a difficult situation involving a breach of trust.”
The judge said McCulloch intended to cause serious bodily harm to his brother, but given the mild nature of his injuries it was unlikely that most of the blows with the shovel were actually related to Jamie’s body.
She continued: “The actual damage done was moderate.
David McCulloch (pictured) and his wife have matching rose tattoos on their hands. He also has “all or nothing” written on his chest
Jacinta King has ‘no regrets’ tattooed on her arm. She and his husband have matching roses on their hands
‘There is no doubt that what you did was exceptionally serious and that your use of the shovel had the potential to cause serious harm, but the context in which the violence was committed was, in all the circumstances, morally provocative.
“You reacted very inappropriately, but I admit it was an emotional response to the circumstances you discovered.”
She was satisfied that McCulloch was not at risk of reoffending and took into account his early guilty pleas, but said the sentence should reflect the serious nature of the crimes and act as general deterrent.
McCulloch was sentenced to three years in prison, backdated to May 7, when he was remanded in custody.
The last eighteen months of his sentence are suspended, on the condition that he does not commit any crimes for two years.
He was also fined $1,000 and will be eligible for parole in February.