That is the amount Patrick* was fined for bashing his wife Winona* in their home, west of Brisbane, when he appeared before Brisbane Magistrates Court in August 2016 and pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm.

The charge stemmed from an incident that had left his wife bruised, scared and hiding in nearby bushland with her 13-year-old daughter on April 12, 2014.

He was handed the fine with no conviction recorded.

"In my view, a fine is the appropriate penalty, taking into account your early plea of guilty and your financial circumstances, as well as your age," the magistrate said.

"Finish with this sad episode, pay the fine downstairs and be done."

But Winona doesn't believe her attacker will ever be done, at least not until either she or he is dead.

She remembers vividly that night she was curled up on the couch with her youngest daughter, watching a movie while her husband slept on the opposite couch.

He had woken in a fit of rage, furious they were watching a movie, and picked up the wine bottle he had been drinking, throwing it at Winona.

"I told my daughter to run as I shielded my face," she said.

"She went out of the room and down the hall and out of her bedroom window and around the side of the house.

"I was trying to get out of the lounge room, he smashed up my hands.

"I went to grab the phone to call police, he ripped it off the wall but not before I got through to triple-0.

"I was really disorientated, he was hitting me so hard with things, anything he could find he was hurling it at me.

"I got to the back door, I didn't know where I was going and my daughter said, 'Mum, it's me, come to me' but I couldn't see.

"She took me by the hand and we ran, we ran into the forest in the pitch dark and she said, 'Lie down, I know you are really frightened but you have to be really quiet because he might come looking for us.'

"She was lying there with her arm over me. She had dragged me some of the way."

They went down the hill, further away from the house, and waited for police.

"She said, 'You have to be really quiet' and she was leading me, I was like a two-year-old. We hid there until police arrived," Winona said.

Her husband had vanished and police made an application for a temporary protection order and processed a domestic violence police application.

It took two years for police to charge the man, who had a history of violence against Winona.

Police say numerous attempts were made to contact Winona to make an assault complaint but they had "experienced difficulties" in reaching her.

However, Winona said she had not heard from police and assumed her husband had been charged until March this year, when she said a police officer at Indooroopilly station called to let her know police had "forgotten" to charge him.

Winona says the officer asked her to come in and file a complaint withdrawal form, which she refused, and six days later, on March 26, she went into the station to file an assault complaint.

Police issued the man with a notice to appear for the offence of assault occasioning bodily harm on May 9, 2016, and advised Winona of this outcome.

"It is preferable for investigation complaints to be finalised within a timely fashion, however a number of factors influenced the timing of the finalisation of this matter," a statement from Queensland Police said.

When Winona attempted to find out when her husband would appear before court, she was told by a senior constable at Indooroopilly station via email that he did not know the prosecutor assigned to the case and did not know the time of the hearing.

He did not offer suggestions for how she could find out this information.

Winona, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, was shocked when she finally heard the court's decision, days after the event.

"He got a $350 fine and no conviction - he would have killed me if I had have gone down on that kitchen floor," she said.

"I am frightened he is going to come back, we all know he is going to come back."

Winona has been left feeling humiliated and ashamed of the justice system that she claims has let her husband off the hook.

"The reason domestic violence is such a big issue is because nobody cares," she said.

"We have all these social workers who pat you on the head until you ring the national DV hotline, which does nothing but give you useless numbers for people to sit down with you and go 'There there, isn't it sad'.

"We need priority listings in the Federal Family Court because all that sexual, emotional, physical, psychological abuse becomes economic abuse real fast.

"I have been in and out of the domestic violence court four or five times and no one has ever helped me.

"I feel really tired and worn down, the whole thing is tragic and farcical."

When Winona extended the protection order from 2014, she had to represent herself.

"I didn't have any legal help on April 28 this year for the protection order," she said.

"My husband turned up to court without a solicitor, he asked for legal representation and he got legal aid.

"I had to represent myself, I had no help, I had all this stuff that I put in for evidence."

The mother-of-three has had enough and wants meaningful action to be taken immediately to stop domestic violence survivors from being lost in the system.

"We need priority in the court listings, we need access to good-quality legal advice and representation for all courts," she said.

"We desperately need a one-page flow chart that shows us how NGO (non-government organisation) and partners interact and what their relationship to one another is and who has what areas of responsibility.

"We need detailed information about service delivery gaps and we won't do that unless we map what services we have."

*names changed in the story to protect the children involved.

Confidential support and advice for women affected by domestic violence is available by phoning DVConnect Womensline on 1800 811 811 (24 hours, 7 days a week).

Help is available for men from DVConnect Mensline on 1800 600 636 (9am to midnight, 7 days a week) or Lifeline on 13 11 14 (24 hours).

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