Dido
08-31-2008, 04:57 PM
Battered wife of Svetozar Varmedja wins payout
Ellen Connolly
August 31, 2008 12:00am
AN elderly man who demanded sex at least three times a day after he started taking Viagra has been ordered to pay $232,000 in compensation to his wife.
In a landmark ruling, Svetozar Varmedja, 80, was found to have subjected his 53-year-old wife to 18 months of physical and sexual abuse.
It included 60 threats to kill her if she did not meet his sexual demands.
"Those tablets changed him and he started to treat me like a slave," his wife said from her Sydney home.
The Serbian woman said the abuse began in 2001 after Mr Varmedja started taking the erectile dysfunction drug.
"He was a gentleman and a good man, but then he started taking the tablets," she said.
He was taking up to three Viagra pills a day, she said, and his sex drive increased dramatically.
"After taking those tablets, he told me it was very important for him to have sex three or four times a day," she said.
Mrs Varmedja's seven-year legal battle ended when the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by her husband that the payout was excessive.
The court said the case was "unusual" because former spouses did not normally sue for assault, but it showed he should pay damages for his deliberate, intentional and reckless disregard for his wife.
Mrs Varmedja met her Australian husband in Serbia in 1995 and the couple married in 2000.
She moved in with him at his home near Orange in New South Wales' central west.
"Until April (2001), he was very correct to me ... there was no violence. There was no pressure of any kind to do anything," she told the court.
In his ruling, Judge Stephen Walmsley detailed the abuse.
It included more than 200 sexual assaults.
Mr Varmedja beat his wife with a curtain rod, a stick and a shotgun.
"He put his gun in my mouth and said, 'One day, I will kill you'," Mrs Varmedja said. He also threw lit matches at her body.
When Mrs Varmedja told him on September 21, 2002, she was leaving, he tried to strangle her.
He also cut off her hair, stating: "This is your punishment for not completely satisfying me and this is what I will always do."
Mr Varmedja denied the allegations.
But the court found Mrs Varmedja had been assaulted and had suffered a significant post-traumatic shock disorder and depression.
Mrs Varmedja's solicitor, Steven Stojanovic, said the case was unique.
"It confirms that the law is there to help victims of this type of thing," Mr Stojanovic said.
In launching the civil claim, Mrs Varmedja argued she was the victim of intentional assaults.
She said she was still living in hiding, fearful for her safety.
Mr Varmedja was ordered to pay her $232,791 for the pain and suffering he had inflicted, medical costs and to punish him for his actions.
"She was forced to undergo and undertake humiliating sexual acts without her consent and in circumstances where she was threatened with dire consequences if she did not succumb to his demands," the NSW Court of Appeal stated.
:rofl:
http://www.news.com.au/he...1985,24268023-662,00.html
Ellen Connolly
August 31, 2008 12:00am
AN elderly man who demanded sex at least three times a day after he started taking Viagra has been ordered to pay $232,000 in compensation to his wife.
In a landmark ruling, Svetozar Varmedja, 80, was found to have subjected his 53-year-old wife to 18 months of physical and sexual abuse.
It included 60 threats to kill her if she did not meet his sexual demands.
"Those tablets changed him and he started to treat me like a slave," his wife said from her Sydney home.
The Serbian woman said the abuse began in 2001 after Mr Varmedja started taking the erectile dysfunction drug.
"He was a gentleman and a good man, but then he started taking the tablets," she said.
He was taking up to three Viagra pills a day, she said, and his sex drive increased dramatically.
"After taking those tablets, he told me it was very important for him to have sex three or four times a day," she said.
Mrs Varmedja's seven-year legal battle ended when the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by her husband that the payout was excessive.
The court said the case was "unusual" because former spouses did not normally sue for assault, but it showed he should pay damages for his deliberate, intentional and reckless disregard for his wife.
Mrs Varmedja met her Australian husband in Serbia in 1995 and the couple married in 2000.
She moved in with him at his home near Orange in New South Wales' central west.
"Until April (2001), he was very correct to me ... there was no violence. There was no pressure of any kind to do anything," she told the court.
In his ruling, Judge Stephen Walmsley detailed the abuse.
It included more than 200 sexual assaults.
Mr Varmedja beat his wife with a curtain rod, a stick and a shotgun.
"He put his gun in my mouth and said, 'One day, I will kill you'," Mrs Varmedja said. He also threw lit matches at her body.
When Mrs Varmedja told him on September 21, 2002, she was leaving, he tried to strangle her.
He also cut off her hair, stating: "This is your punishment for not completely satisfying me and this is what I will always do."
Mr Varmedja denied the allegations.
But the court found Mrs Varmedja had been assaulted and had suffered a significant post-traumatic shock disorder and depression.
Mrs Varmedja's solicitor, Steven Stojanovic, said the case was unique.
"It confirms that the law is there to help victims of this type of thing," Mr Stojanovic said.
In launching the civil claim, Mrs Varmedja argued she was the victim of intentional assaults.
She said she was still living in hiding, fearful for her safety.
Mr Varmedja was ordered to pay her $232,791 for the pain and suffering he had inflicted, medical costs and to punish him for his actions.
"She was forced to undergo and undertake humiliating sexual acts without her consent and in circumstances where she was threatened with dire consequences if she did not succumb to his demands," the NSW Court of Appeal stated.
:rofl:
http://www.news.com.au/he...1985,24268023-662,00.html