COURT reporter JORDANNA SCHRIEVER reports in the ADELAIDE ADVERTISER that a ‘drunk, rejected and crazed,’ Ron Papps, smothered his wife with a pillow and then chased her down, vowing to "get" her like he had "wanted to do for a while".
The famed South Australian race caller race-caller was seeking "cuddles" from his wife, Judy, who had been sleeping in a separate bed since they each suffered serious health concerns in the preceding two years.
Yesterday, in the Supreme Court sitting at Port Augusta, Justice Ann Vanstone said Papps had snapped after his wife again refused intimacy."Your wife described you as having `a crazed look on your face' and you said to her words to the effect `I'm going to get you this time, I've been wanting to do this for a while'," Justice Vanstone said.
"You then placed a pillow on her face and applied pressure to it ... she was able to wriggle out from under you and go down to the passage.
"You followed and brought her down from behind. She bit you on the hand and screamed as loudly as she could."
Justice Vanstone said Mrs Papps escaped to a neighbour's house.
Papps was later charged with attempted murder, but that charge was dropped and the former Vietnam War veteran this week pleaded guilty to endangering his wife's life at their Port Lincoln home.
Justice Vanstone said the couple's 33-year marriage had been "a happy one" before the January incident.
She said the couple's health concerns had placed "an unusual amount of stress on the marriage".
She said the couple planned to reconcile, with Mrs Papps wanting "little to happen to you, other than that you get help".
Justice Vanstone said Papps, who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, often drank to excess but now abstained from alcohol.
An emotional Papps began crying in the dock as Justice Vanstone sentenced the 65-year-old Order of Australia recipient to two years in prison, but suspended the jail term on the condition he enter a two-and-a-half-year, $100 good behaviour bond.
Papps promised Justice Vanstone he would stay out of trouble and outside court apologised for the attack.
"I'd just like to apologise for the grief I've caused my wife, family and friends," he said. "I'm completely remorseful."
He also thanked Justice Vanstone for her "compassion and understanding".
Mrs Papps briskly left court after her husband and refused to comment.
STORY COURTESY OF NEWS LTD & THE ADELAIDE ADVERTISER
