Jail time increased in Vic domestic attack

A Melbourne man who terrorised his ex-partner with a shotgun and a nail gun told the court of appeal his relationship with her should see him avoid a harsher sentence.

Andrew Meyers, 56, has had his jail term increased by two years after the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the original sentence because it was manifestly inadequate.

In a joint ruling handed down on Thursday, Justices Chris Maxwell, Robert Redlich and Robert Osborn upheld the appeal, saying the statistics on women being killed or seriously injured by vengeful former partners were "truly shocking".

"Violence of this kind is alarmingly widespread and extremely harmful," they said.

They increased Meyers' jail term from three years and six months to five years and six months for the attack in which he smashed through the victim's rear door, bound her with cable-ties and bashed her over the head with a gun.

The ruling said the Meyers matter was the fourth dealt with by the court in six months in which an offender who broke into his former partner's house and attacked her.

In all four appeals, the offenders argued that a 2012 ruling that found sentences for aggravated burglaries needed to be higher had "little or no" application where the victim was a former domestic partner.

The court of appeal rejected this, saying burglaries that involve confrontation and violence should be viewed as very serious, regardless of the relationship to the victim.

It noted in three of the four recent instances, the victim's new partner was also attacked.

Justice Maxwell on Thursday said the forced imprisonment of the victim was protracted and terrifying.

"In her period of her confinement, she was subjected to a number of assaults which were no doubt accompanied by a fear that she would not survive," Justice Maxwell said.

Meyers had been carrying a double-barrelled shotgun, a crow bar, a nail gun, various knives and a plastic drop sheet when he broke into the victim's home last June.

He released her after a three hour stand-off with police and was charged with crimes including aggravated burglary, false imprisonment and intentionally causing injury.

Meyers must serve three years before being eligible for parole.