It might sound like bad vaudeville, but David McCulloch’s story is indeed authentic. This 41-year-old Australian was sentenced Friday to three years in prison, including 18 months, for assault, possession of cannabis and a “homemade” weapon. To understand how this resident of Tasmania got there, we must already set the scene: David has been in a relationship for 25 years with Jacinta King, whom he married in 2018 and with whom he has four children. The couple live in the same house as Sue McCulloch, David’s mother.
On the evening of March 28, 2024 in Devonport, Sue drove her daughter-in-law to see Jamie McCulloch, her eldest son, who is therefore David’s brother. Once the forty-year-old gets into the car, the Australian starts again and stops further away, in a local parking lot. Meanwhile, David tries in vain to contact his wife, who does not answer his calls, reports Perth Now. Suspicious, he goes looking for his wife and arrives in the famous parking lot. There, he is confronted with a doubly painful picture: not only is Jacinta having sex with her brother in the back of a vehicle, but her mother is quietly seated behind the wheel, without flinching.
Mad with rage, David then lashes out against his brother, before attacking his wife. Seeing that Jamie is trying to flee, the cheated husband grabs a shovel from his car and begins to hit his eldest, while uttering death threats. The mother of the two brothers, who tried to intervene, was violently thrown against a trash can. Jamie ends up escaping, after which David smashes the car with a shovel. He then uses the broken handle of the tool to beat Jacinta.
Alerted by neighbors, the police arrived and arrested David. Jamie and Jacinta are taken to hospital, where they will be treated for bruises and minor lacerations. During his interrogation, the forty-year-old appeared extremely angry and declared that his brother “deserved” what happened to him. He also explains that he has a “homemade” firearm at his home.
During the reading of the verdict on Friday, Judge Tamara Jago recognized that the circumstances of this surge of violence were “testing”. “The betrayal of your wife and your brother, with the apparent support of your mother, must have been upsetting, and while it is understandable that this may give rise to a certain level of anger and frustration, this does not in no way excuses what you did afterwards,” she added. David McCulloch will be eligible for parole in February.
