One minute Susan Baker was dancing with a female friend at a NSW caravan park, the next they were screaming and trying to ward off a machete attack by her estranged husband Clint Baker.
‘You are my f***ing wife, you are my f***ing wife,’ he yelled as she tried to use her body to shield Caitlyn Grayson who had fallen to the ground and was being struck with the machete.
On Monday in the District Court in Sydney, Baker, 32, was jailed for at least four years and nine months after pleading guilty to a string of offences.
Clint Baker has been jailed after attacking his estranged wife Susan (right) and her friend Caitlyn Grayson (left)
Baker (pictured after the attack in April 2016) was jailed for at least four years and nine months after pleading guilty to a string of offences
Noting Baker was of previous good character and respected by his acquaintances, Acting Judge Anthony Garling said the April 2016 crimes appeared to flow from ‘a brain snap fuelled by alcohol’.
His admitted offences included wounding Ms Grayson with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, recklessly wounding Ms Baker, breaching an AVO order and using a carriage service to threaten to kill.
He also admitted dangerous driving offences, when he was more than twice the alcohol limit, relating to a police pursuit from the caravan park in Lake Conjola on the NSW south coast.
An ambulance driver rushing to the scene said Baker ‘drove directly at her’ but she managed to swerve to avoid an accident.
Supporters and friends of Clinton Baker comfort each other at Darlinghurst Supreme Court
Baker’s supporters leave the Sydney court after he was sentenced for stabbing his partner and her friend repeatedly with a machete before leading police on a high-speed car chase
Pursuing police also saw him drive dangerously, at one stage on the wrong side of the road, at speeds of up to 160km/h in a 100km/h zone, before he crashed the van.
In April 2016, the women and relatives were staying at the caravan park and Baker turned up one night saying he could not sleep.
The next day, they drank alcohol before the women later danced together and Ms Grayson hugged Ms Baker.
He became annoyed and got the machete from his van as she yelled: ‘No, please, no, no, no, no’.
Mother-of-two Ms Baker had a deep laceration on her hand after she was attacked
Ms Grayson (pictured) sustained a number of injuries including deep lacerations to her legs
She fell to the ground when Baker struck her on the face with his hand.
Ms Baker then saw her friend lying on her back in the dirt, with her legs drawn up to her stomach and using her hands to cover her face and arms.
Baker struck her with the machete while she tried to cover her friend’s body and she, too, was hit.
Ms Baker had a deep laceration on her hand, while her friend had a number of injuries including deep lacerations to her legs.
In setting a maximum term of seven-and-a-half years, the judge said Baker had written a letter of apology and expressed remorse.