Former girlfriend of bikie and persistent family violence criminal Leon Matthew Parnell slams justice system

The ex-partner of a South West man who has become one of the first to plead guilty to WA’s new persistent family violence charge has told of her fears after he walked free on a suspended prison sentence. Leon Matthew Parnell, 44, was declared a serial domestic violence offender by a magistrate last week before he received a two-year conditional suspended jail sentence for 14 domestic violence-related charges. It came just months after he became one of the first criminals to admit to the State’s new persistent family violence charge, which was introduced last year to punish offenders who commit an act of domestic abuse against the same person more than three times within a decade. But Parnell — who the South Western Times reported earlier this year had been linked to the Kalgoorlie Gypsy Jokers chapter — will walk free after his suspended sentence was handed down in Collie Magistrates Court last Wednesday. His former partner and victim Rachel McCavana said she was disappointed by the decision and the “broken” justice system, which had handed him a sentence of “just don’t do it again”. Over the years, Ms McCavana was subjected to death threats, violent attacks — including a number in front of their daughter and while pregnant — as well as emotional and verbal abuse. Speaking to the Times, Ms McCavana said Parnell had put her through hell throughout their relationship, which began in 2014 and lasted “on and off” for six years. “The first time he ever actually physically hurt me was on December 31, 2014. I wanted to go out and do something and he was playing his game in the room,” she said. “I think I must have texted him or something and he came out. I was in the dining area and he just grabbed me by my throat. I just got really scared because I’ve never actually done that before.” Ms McCavana said she felt an all-time low when she was attacked while pregnant with their daughter — who is now five years old — in 2016. “I was pregnant with my daughter in 2016 and we were very on and off,” she said. “He strangled me a week before she was born, I was in the laundry and I was just pointing to my belly because I couldn’t scream. “I remember taking my son to the park going ‘what am I going to do,’ and that’s when I made the promise next time he does this to me I’m going to do something about it.” Ms MaCavana said she was tangled in ongoing court proceedings to gain sole custody of their daughter, who she said was exposed to the assaults. “I was in the bedroom with (my daughter), she was 18-months-old, and he actually picked me up and threw me to the ground,” she said. “(My daughter) came out of my arms and she was laying on her back screaming and he was too busy strangling me to let me pick her up and I remember just laying there looking at her. “I didn’t know it at the time, but my son was calling triple zero going ‘I think my mum’s boyfriend is murdering her’.” In her victim impact statement provided to Magistrate Benjamin Tyers and seen by the South Western Times, Ms McCavana highlighted the aggressive post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms she suffers following years of abuse. “Now I’m too scared to venture to new places, make excuses not to visit others due to my anxiety mood, and have chronic flashbacks of the abuse I suffered, mostly for no reason, other times when it’s triggered in a sensory form,” she wrote. “I am tormented every day by the constant thoughts of my children growing up motherless.” “I have no drive to live, I’m living for my children.” The PTSD and anxiety had forced her to resign from her job and isolate herself from friends and family. “I have currently been off work since July 2019 due to the past abuse and then resigned in December 2020 due to the mental issues because of the conflictual issue of work and home life,” she said. “I have months of past lost wages, and years of future of wages.” “The financial impact this has had on my life and the children’s is atrocious. Having to relocate time after time including interstate, the removalists cost, the cleaning cost, the saving up for another bond, the list is endless. Ms McCavana pleaded to the magistrate, highlighting the terrifying power her ex-partner holds outside of prison. “I firmly believe that if he has the chance in the future he will take my life,” she said. Parnell was sentenced in Collie Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to 14 charges between 2015 and 2020, including assaulting his partner Rachel McCavana in circumstances of aggravation, failing to comply with protective bail conditions, threatening to harm, and four counts of breaching family violence restraining orders. On six counts between March and April 2017, Parnell engaged in email communication with Ms McCavana which breached protective bail conditions. Parnell breached his family violence restraining order on four occasions through email communications with Ms McCavana, with one threatening to “kill” her. “I couldn’t give a sh*t about you,” he wrote in an email. “If I see you again, I’ll kill you.” Defence Lawyer Jodette Reynolds told the court Parnell had been in a new relationship for nearly two years and had not shown any signs of aggression, and it was the “acute nature” of a toxic relationship and mutual drug abuse which had led to the violence. However Mr Tyers declared Parnell as a serial offender and said the pre-sentence report suggested the criminal had three past relationships that “demonstrated patterns of dysfunction” including drugs and violence. Parnell must complete drug and psychological therapy as part of his conditional suspended sentence. He received a $1500 fine for the six counts of protective bail breach and a two-year extension of the family domestic violence order.