In their judgment handed down on Tuesday, the appeal judges said the first rape took place some time in May 2001 when the guard and his wife were living together with their first child in Essendon. "The applicant [the guard] became angry because his wife did not have the correctly coloured socks ready for him to wear with his work uniform," Justice Ferguson said. "His wife laughed because she did not think that her husband was serious. "The applicant took his wife by the back of the head to the laundry, pushed her head into the pile of dirty laundry in the washing basket and told her it was her job to take care of the laundry." The judge said the guard then raped his wife as she screamed at him to "stop" and "get off".

The guard went on to rape his wife another five times over the next 10 years, including when she was pregnant and had refused to have sex with him. "There is no doubt that the first three rapes committed by the applicant were committed in circumstances where he exercised his dominion as a husband over his wife and took advantage of their marital relationship," the judge said. "The last three rapes were committed in circumstances where the applicant took advantage of his wife's willingness to put her children's relationship with their father [after the couple had separated] ahead of her own interests and safety. "In each instance, the applicant treated the complainant as his property, not as an equal, nor as a person worthy of his respect. That is abhorrent and cannot be tolerated." Justice Ferguson noted that the couple divorced in 2012 and the guard had remarried in February 2013 and had another child.