The “controlling” father of two who allegedly stabbed his wife in the neck after a dispute about infidelity has been refused bail because the victim “fears for her life”.
Lindsay Raymond Bassani, 42, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated causing serious harm after he allegedly attacked his 39-year-old wife at their Clare home, north of Adelaide, in April this year.
Police responded to the “violent disturbance” that was reported at about 7pm on April 8 and found the woman with a stab wound to her neck.
The mother was taken to the Clare Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
Officers also discovered the accused with stab wounds to his abdomen. He was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with serious self-inflicted injuries.
Mr Bassani on Tuesday appeared via video link in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, where his application for home detention bail was denied.
DPP prosecutor Martin Hinton QC argued that Mr Bassani allegedly threatened to kill his wife, saying the only way she would leave him was if she was killed.
Because of that alleged threat, Mr Hinton said, she now “fears for her safety”.
“She’s terrified he’ll achieve this, doing so primarily through access to the children,” Mr Hinton said.
“She describes him as controlling, obsessed, paranoid and jealous, and that description captures what occurred on the night of the offence.
“No form of bail is sufficient.”
The court was told that Mr Bassani went to the school where his wife worked on the day of the alleged stabbing and demanded to know “who she was sleeping with”.
The court was also told that Ms Bassani and his wife also owned a gym together in Clare.
Emily Telfer QC, for Mr Bassani, argued that there were no allegations in his wife’s statement of ongoing violence or abuse committed by her husband in the past.
But the lawyer noted there was one mention of a push that Mr Bassani “immediately apologised for”.
Ms Telfer also said her client would stay away from the town where his wife lived, if granted bail.
He would instead live about an hour-and-a-half away with a friend who was prepared to act as a guarantor and provide cash to the court.
Ms Telfer told the court that it was not uncommon for Mr Bassani to bring his wife a coffee while she was at work.
The lawyer also argued that Mr Bassani had abided by home detention rules in the past after he was convicted for dishonesty charges in 2016 and was handed a home detention sentence.
The former Echunga football coach was in charge of the SA Aboriginal Sports Training Academy when he illegally bought items, including a television, washing machine and training singlets for the football club, with education department money.
An ICAC investigation led to his arrest and he pleaded guilty in 2016 to three counts of abuse of public office to secure a benefit between December 2012 and May 2014.
“He has experience to the rigours of home detention and he complied with that home detention sentence in relation to those offences,” Ms Telfer said.
“Mr Bassani has no intention of returning to Clare and is prepared to abide by conditions not to enter the Clare area at all.
“The offences he is charged with are serious, but the seriousness of the offence goes to the question of risk — there is no proven risk that Mr Bassani would not answer his bail.”
Following Ms Telfer ‘s submissions, chief magistrate Mary-Louise Hribal was quick to deny Mr Bassani’s bail.
She said her decision was made based on the complainant's safety, the seriousness of the allegations and the strength of the prosecution case.
The court had previously been told the detailed allegations of the night, including the alleged victim locking herself and her two children in the bathroom and calling triple-0 after the alleged stabbing until paramedics arrived.
Police alleged the initial argument led to Mr Bassani grabbing his wife by the hair and dragging her down the hallway to the bedroom, pushing her onto the bed, and telling her not to move, the court was told.
It is alleged the woman then managed to push past her husband and return to the dining room, where Mr Bassani allegedly picked up the knife from the bench and told his wife that if she left him he would “kill her and himself”.
Mr Bassani is due to reappear next week to answer the charge.
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