A 26-year-old Sydney man has formally admitted to assaulting his pregnant partner in an incident that was live-streamed on Twitch while the man played Fortnite.
Luke James Munday appeared in Picton Local Court today, entering a plea of guilty on a charge of common assault over the incident which occurred on the evening of December 9th last year.
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In the footage, which was live-streamed under Munday’s username MrDeadMoth, Munday and his partner, who was heavily pregnant at the time, engaging in a heated verbal argument reportedly regarding Munday’s refusal to stop playing Fortnite and eat dinner with his family. Munday is shown moving off screen, before a loud slapping sound is heard, followed by crying. The couple’s two previous children can be heard in the background of the footage.
Per court documents, Munday admitted to striking his partner in a police interview conducted later that evening.
In that interview, Munday stated that his partner “went to grab my stuff” and he “got angry.” He then stated that he “stood up and slapped her on the cheek,” and “grabbed her,” and that he thought he “put her on the couch but it must have been the floor.” He then stated “I held her down because I wanted her to stop.”
Police documents assert Munday’s partner began pulling at his hair in an attempt to get him off of her. He then grabbed a picture frame and hurled it down the hallway of the house the pair lived in.
Following the incident, Munday’s Twitch account was immediately and permanently banned and removed from the platform. The couple’s third child was born a month after the incident.
A subsequent statement to police made by Munday in February claimed that he and his partner were attending counselling fortnightly. However today’s guilty plea coincided with an Aggravated Violence Order being finalised against Munday. That prevents him from seeing or contacting his partner for the next two years. Previously, the pair was only able to see each other in public.
He will return to court for sentencing on August 26th.
