<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>335260</docID> <postdate>2024-12-13 15:00:03</postdate> <headline>Former top judge ‘lost everything’ for assaulting woman</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-335262" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241213143826977701-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="1080" height="720" /></p> <caption>Former Supreme Court judge Gregory Geason has been convicted for breaching a restraining order. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Duncan Murray</b> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A disgraced Supreme Court judge who "lost everything" after being convicted of assaulting and intimidating a woman has been sentenced for breaching a restraining order.</strong></p> <p>Former Tasmanian justice Gregory Geason was sentenced on Friday after admitting to breaching the AVO in November 2023 in Sydney.</p> <p>The 63-year-old, who lives in Hobart's Battery Point, received a conviction and 12-month community corrections order at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.</p> <p>Geason recently resigned from his role on Tasmania's highest court after being convicted of separate assault and intimidation offences.</p> <p>Defence barrister Fabiano Cangelosi told the court his client had "essentially lost everything" and at the time of the latest offending had become a hermit.</p> <p>"He is a person who has risen high and has fallen very low," he said.</p> <p>"His position in the community - lost.</p> <p>"His position in his chosen profession - lost."</p> <p>An AVO was imposed by Tasmania Police following a complaint of assault, for which Geason was ultimately convicted.</p> <p>But he breached the order by messaging a woman as many as 12 times over a period of nine days, although the magistrate accepted the contact was not aggressive or threatening.</p> <p>"On one occasion she accidentally called him so he called her back, that sort of thing," Mr Cangelosi said.</p> <p>Geason was convicted and sentenced in November over an incident in October 2023, in which he grabbed, shook, punched and pushed a woman at a Hobart home.</p> <p>The woman fell backwards and hit her head on a mantelpiece, suffering concussion and bruising, a court was previously told.</p> <p>Geason denied the allegations, claiming the woman had tripped, but was found guilty of assault and one count of emotional abuse or intimidation.</p> <p>In sentencing the former judge for those offences, Magistrate Susan Wakeling noted he had not demonstrated any remorse.</p> <p>"Your moral culpability ... is high," she said.</p> <p>Geason avoided a jail term despite prosecutors arguing in favour of a period in custody and was instead sentenced to 100 hours of community service with a conviction recorded, as part of a 12-month community corrections order.</p> <p>Among several conditions of that sentence, he was ordered to continue mental health treatment and not to leave Tasmania unless permitted by a probation officer.</p> </body>