Haymish Lindsay Cavan Finlay jailed for intimidating ex-girlfriend and escaping custody by swimming into Spencer Gulf

SOME escapes from custody are well-planned and meticulously executed. And then there’s this guy...

A VIOLENT and abusive man who had his mother and new girlfriend intimidate his former partner, then tried to escape prison by swimming into Spencer Gulf, has been jailed.

In sentencing remarks published on Thursday, the District Court said Haymish Lindsay Cavan Finlay had demonstrated “quite remarkable” levels of intimidation, violence and manipulation.

Judge Gordon Barrett said Finlay, 24, had adversely affected not only his life, but that of three mothers — his own mother and two women with whom he has had children.

“The threats that you made show how intimidating and violent you can be ... the laughing at the texts (containing the threats) shows how immature you were,” he said.

“What followed showed how manipulative you could be.

“You got your own mother into trouble, you are likely to get the mother of your one or two-month-old son into trouble, and you have put the mother of your three-year-old daughter in fear.”

Finlay, of Port Augusta, pleaded guilty to aggravated threatening harm, dissuading a witness and escaping custody. The offences were committed between June 21 and July 6 last year.

In sentencing, Judge Barrett said Finlay’s offending began when he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, mother of the three-year-old, to have a relationship with his new girlfriend.

However, when Finlay concluded his former partner was seeing someone else, he “became aggressive, manipulative and threatening”.

“Over a period of days, you sent her vile threats by text, including threats to kill her,” he said.

“After your arrest ... the police officer started to read out the vile threats that you had been making to her and you laughed.”

Judge Barrett said Finlay employed his mother to attempt to dissuade the woman from pursuing charges — resulting in his mother receiving a conviction — and then got his new girlfriend to do the same.

“Two days after you were arrested, you escaped custody ... you were at the courts in custody and persuaded the sheriff’s officers to give you a cigarette,” he said.

“You then made out you were coughing ... when one moved to help you, you escaped by jumping the fence and swimming out into the gulf.

“You were eventually captured ... you say that you tried to run away because you feared that you might meet repercussions in prison for a debt you owed a fellow prisoner.”

He said Finlay — who has a 10-year criminal history and was the product of “a grossly irresponsible” father who let him sniff aerosols and play with firearms as a child — had to serve an immediate jail term.

He jailed Finlay for five years, with a three-year non-parole period, and imposed an indefinite intervention order banning him from contacting his former partner.

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