{"id":69552,"date":"2026-08-11T10:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69552\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T10:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:09:12","slug":"former-darwin-councillor-paul-arnold-sentenced-to-home-detention-over-serious-domestic-violence-offences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/69552\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Darwin councillor Paul Arnold sentenced to home detention over \u2018serious domestic violence\u2019 offences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Renowned Australian landscape photographer and former Darwin councillor Paul Arnold has avoided jail despite being convicted of a string of domestic violence charges described by a judge as “serious”, “cowardly” and “insidious”.<\/p>\n

Arnold was today sentenced in the Darwin Local Court to a two-year intensive community corrections order (ICCO), with nine months to be served under home detention.<\/p>\n

In November last year, Arnold was found guilty on more than a dozen charges, including assault, deprivation of liberty and damage to property.<\/p>\n

The bulk of the offences related to seven separate incidents that occurred over the course of his troubled 18-month relationship with his former partner, Leanne Thompson, before the pair separated in early 2023.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Leanne Thompson has previously spoken out about the abuse she faced. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

Arnold, 54, was also charged with and later convicted of aggravated stalking and breaching a domestic violence order.<\/p>\n

‘No remorse at all’, judge finds<\/p>\n

In sentencing Arnold today, Darwin Local Court Judge Therese Austin said the offending was a “serious example” of domestic violence, describing his conduct as “insidious”, “controlling” and “nasty”.<\/p>\n

Judge Austin said the offending had resulted in “ongoing and profound” impacts on the victim, including “physical, psychological and emotional harm”.<\/p>\n

“I find there is no remorse at all for the harm you have inflicted on Ms Thompson,” she said.<\/p>\n

During one incident in August 2022, the court heard Arnold pushed Ms Thompson into a towel rack, headbutted her and threw her make-up bag on the ground, which Judge Austin described as an act of “unacceptable violence”.<\/p>\n

“I find the headbutt is a particularly nasty and cowardly assault that was a shocking and painful experience for Ms Thompson,” she said.<\/p>\n

In a separate event, Arnold took Ms Thompson’s phone and blocked her from leaving his bedroom.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

The judge found Paul Arnold expressed “no remorse at all for the harm you have inflicted”. (ABC News: Olivana Lathouris)<\/p>\n

Arnold pleaded guilty to two counts of damage to property but not guilty to all other charges, and during his evidence he denied ever being physically violent toward Ms Thompson.<\/p>\n

During her sentencing remarks, Judge Austin said parts of Arnold’s evidence were “so implausible, unbelievable, and uncredible (sic)” there was “no reasonable possibility” they were true.<\/p>\n

Arnold served as a City of Darwin councillor for three years before resigning in May 2023.<\/p>\n

He was also the owner of a gallery in Darwin’s CBD which has since collapsed financially.<\/p>\n

‘It gave me back my voice’<\/p>\n

During the proceedings, Ms Thompson forfeited her right have her identity concealed as a protected witness, instead choosing to give evidence in front of her abuser.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court today, Ms Thompson said she wanted people to “see the face behind the headlines”.<\/p>\n

“I am a real person, I have feelings, I have emotions, I am a mother,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Leanne Thompson says seeing the court proceedings through “showed me I’m far stronger than I ever believed”. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)<\/p>\n

“Despite being educated and strong, domestic violence happened to me.”<\/p>\n

After enduring a years-long court process, Ms Thompson said it was worth the fight.<\/p>\n

“It gave me back my voice, my safety and showed me I’m far stronger than I ever believed.<\/p>\n

“I leave today knowing I have done everything in my power to stop this happening to someone else.”<\/p>\n

Arnold’s barrister, Jon Tippett KC, previously told the court his client had suffered extra punishment due to negative media coverage of the case and had suffered a major decline in his mental health.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paul Arnold inside his Darwin CBD art gallery in 2022.\u00a0 (ABC News: Jane Bardon)<\/p>\n

Today, Judge Austin acknowledged Arnold had been subject to “a degree of public humiliation” but found the attention was “to be expected” as a result of his standing in the community.<\/p>\n

She accepted Arnold was “labouring under severe depression” and his mental illness would make prison “more onerous” for him.<\/p>\n

Judge Austin said while Arnold would not serve any actual prison time, the ICCO was a “strict regime”.<\/p>\n

Arnold was also ordered to complete a men’s behavioural change program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Renowned Australian landscape photographer and former Darwin councillor Paul Arnold has avoided jail despite being convicted of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,93035,4841,9767,93034,3339,9776,93033,93037,93036,1714],"class_list":["post-69552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-darwin-councillor-paul-arnold","tag-domestic-violence","tag-dvo","tag-leanne-thompson","tag-nt","tag-nt-domestic-violence","tag-paul-arnold","tag-paul-arnold-domestic-violence","tag-paul-arnold-sentencing","tag-stalking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}