Woman confronts ex-husband who abused her while serving as a SAPOL detective

A woman who was abused by her police officer husband over five years feels “failed” by the “boys in blue” and no longer trusts law enforcement, a court has heard.

Warning: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.

Former police detective Matthew Alan Thomson, 42, appeared in South Australia’s District Court on Tuesday where his ex-wife Stella and daughter delivered victim impact statements.

Thomson previously pleaded guilty to one count of assault, four counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated assault causing harm between April 2013 and February 2018.

The public gallery of the overflowing court room erupted into applause after Stella detailed the lasting impact of Thomson’s abuse and told the court it was her turn to “control the narrative”.

“I will not be silenced,” she said.

“Your Honour, I stand here, in front of you, not broken but determined.

“Our community deserves to be protected from individuals like you [Thomson].”

The young mother said she felt “stripped of her dignity” and her birthday was still tainted by his abuse.

“Every year on my birthday I cannot erase the smell, the texture, feeling utterly degraded, after you wiped faeces on my face,” she said. 

‘The system failed to protect me’

The woman said she felt “silenced” when reaching out to SAPOL — where Thomson was working as a detective until December 2017.

“Where I reached out, I was silenced. Left feeling abused all over again,” she said.

“I escaped the relationship several times. Missed opportunities to intervene were used to protect you by the boys in blue.”

She said that, even while pregnant with their daughter, the abuse and “assaults never stopped”.

“I thought carrying a child might spare me but the terror, the torment, the dehumanisation continued,” she said.

“[I was] stripped of my dignity, reminded how insignificant I am.

“I felt groomed and subservient in our relationship.”

But, the mother-of-one, told Thomson he “no longer hold[s] power” over her and she would continue to fight for other women and children.

“I am a survivor of men like you and you have no power over me,” she said.

“I demand that no other woman, or child, will have to endure the horrors and torments inflicted upon us.

“I survived you and I am a warrior.”

The pair’s eight-year-old daughter gave a victim impact statement via video link, telling the court her life had changed “because Matthew isn’t hurting anyone I love”.

“I still remember when you slapped my face and you gave me a blood nose,” she said.

“What you did to my mum was disgusting, gross and unacceptable.

“Matthew don’t contact me. I don’t want to see you … you’re not my father.”

Defence asks for suspended sentence

Defence lawyer Peter Morrison, for Thomson, said his client and the victim had been in a “toxic” and “tinderbox” relationship.

He said Thomson, who now lived in Queensland with his partner and child, had experienced abuse at the hands of his own father and that it “explains” his offending.

District Court Judge Anthony Allen questioned it as being a “replication” of what he had already experienced.

“So, he’s the cookie cutter version of his dad?” Judge Allen asked.

“That’s exactly what we say the explanation for this offending is,” Mr Morrison replied. 

Judge Allen said “an element” of the sentence imposed is the denunciation of a police officer breaking a law they are responsible for enforcing.

But Mr Morrison asked the court to impose a suspended sentence of imprisonment and said that his client would experience hardship in prison because of his previous employment.

He also said a psychiatric report showed Thomson was “contrite”, “remorseful” and was at low risk of reoffending.

“He acknowledges the deep level of pain that he caused the victim,” he said.

Judge Allen ordered a comprehensive home detention report ahead of further sentencing submissions in June.