Christopher Steven Ferlic pleaded guilty to the attack in Nowra Local Court on Wednesday, January 17, his lawyer arguing he was experiencing a drug-induced psychosis at the time. 

At 5.30am on July 25, 2017 the 28-year-old returned home after a night of fishing and entered the bedroom where he began verbally abusing his girlfriend.

The woman fled to a neighbour’s house and hid “terrified” under a blanket in the garage. 

Ferlic, believing the two were having an affair, gathered the woman’s clothing, soaked them in a liquid and set them alight, before he armed himself with an axe and hammer and followed her. 

He entered the garage, pulled the blanket off the woman and hit her in the head with the hammer. He then grabbed a nearby TV and hit her in the head again. 

In an attempt to defend the woman, the neighbour approached Ferlic who hit him in the knee with the hammer. 

The commotion stirred neighbours who contacted police. 

Ferlic fled the scene and was later found by police at Kiama train station boarding a train to Sydney. 

“This is a very, very concerning set of facts and conduct that has to be called appalling,” Magistrate Gabriel Fleming said. 

“He is fortunate to be in this court and not a higher court, on higher charges.” 

Ferlic’s lawyer conceded the attack was “shocking and startling” and argued the long-term ice user was in a drug-induced psychosis, sparked by his mother’s sudden death, at the time of the attack. 

“His drug use had spiralled out of control at the time of the offences,” the lawyer said. 

“The death of his mother in the weeks prior sent him into a tailspin. 

“He had formed the belief the two victims were intimate.” 

“My answer to that is, so what?” Magistrate Fleming replied. 

Ferlic’s lawyer pleaded for her client to be spared jail time and released into a drug rehabilitation program, although she admitted she held “guarded optimism” for his prospect of rehabilitation. 

Magistrate Fleming would not entertain the request and blasted Ferlic for the attack, condemning the assault, which she said was not his first.

“This involved the use of not just one, but two weapons and is at the most serious end of criminal behaviour,” she said. 

“If you’d connected with any force you’d be in a higher court and most likely on a longer sentence.

“It is not an isolated incident. You have a breach of AVO for the same victim, matters of serious violence and property damage offences. 

“This is where methylamphetamine leads you. It destroys your life, your relationships and our community. 

“Methylamphetamine never leads to a happy life. 

“I need to send a strong message to the community that these are appalling offences.” 

Ferlic, who has been remanded in custody since the attack, sat quietly in the dock, dressed in prison greens with rosary beads around his neck. He began to sob as the sentence was delivered. 

He was sentenced to three years’ jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months, for intent to commit an indictable offence, two counts of assault and two counts of destroying property.

With time served Ferlic will be eligible for parole on January 25, 2019.