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Former One Nation adviser Sean Black has been sentenced to five years' jail for raping and assaulting his former wife, but his sentence will be suspended after two years and three months.
Earlier this month Black was convicted of raping his former wife Tanya in a bathroom in 2007, pushing her down stairs and crushing her hand in a door.
Black, who did not give evidence, was acquitted on a separate count of assault.
In sentencing, Judge Glen Cash said it was clear Black was willing to use violence to dominate his relationship.
"The victim of the offences was not only your wife but the mother of your children," Judge Cash said.
"No man has any excuse to treat a woman in this way, as if she is your property for you to control as you see fit.
Judge Cash said it was concerning that Black had twice assaulted his then wife while she held their infant son in her arms, or the boy was nearby.
He said Black had seen her later in the shower and remarked that she "should change her diet because she bruised easily".
Judge Cash said Tanya responded that perhaps Black should stop hitting her.
"This enraged you," he said.
The judge said Black then "dragged her out by the hair from the shower" and raped her.
"That night … you told her it wasn't rape, because she was your wife," he said.
Judge Cash said Black had "effectively rehabilitated himself" and posed a low risk of reoffending but also noted he showed no remorse, which was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Black's former wife Tanya waived her legal right to anonymity to speak to the ABC about the traumatising effect of giving evidence after being cross-examined over three days.
She said that experience triggered panic attacks and vomiting that interrupted her testimony.
Tanya wrote to the Queensland Attorney-General hours before Black's sentencing to back calls for changes to the way victims give evidence in rape trials.
Hours after the guilty verdict, Tanya told the ABC that her experience of going to trial was that "it tears [victims] apart".
"They're the ones who are put on trial because the defendant — it's not compulsory for them to be cross-examined at any point — they can just sit there and watch," she said.
Black remained a media adviser to senator Malcolm Roberts for five months after he was charged last year.
One source close to One Nation told the ABC they were "horrified" to discover several months ago that Black continued to work in the party's Brisbane head office and was involved in vetting its candidates.
A One Nation spokesman denied the claim.
The ABC also obtained pictures of Black filming former senator Roberts at a rally in Brisbane last month.
Black has been held in custody since the day of his conviction, when he arrived at court holding his baby from a third marriage and with his current wife at his side.
Black's chequered political career culminated in Canberra with One Nation but began with Queensland Labor.
He was state secretary of Young Labor and a staffer for former Labor heavyweight Terry Mackenroth, before he was kicked out of the party over his adverse naming in a 2001 electoral fraud inquiry.
His attacks on his then-wife Tanya took place in 2007, a year before he returned to politics as a Logan City Councillor.
He came to public prominence through his second marriage to fellow councillor Hajnal Ban.
Their wedding attracted Liberal National Party figures, including federal MP Barnaby Joyce.
Complaints of bullying and intimidation against Black within the council led to him being banned from entering chambers or dealing with staff, as well as being subject to special security arrangements.
He worked on former Liberal National Party MP Michael Pucci's campaign in 2012 before following Pucci to One Nation via Senator Roberts' office.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, government-and-politics, local-government, domestic-violence, community-and-society, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, logan-city-dc-4114
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