Woman convicted of stalking, harassing man and his family on social media blocks her ears as they give victim impact statements

She bombarded them with hateful social media messages and left them in fear, but a convicted stalker has refused to listen to her victims outline their pain in court.

A woman who bombarded a man and his family with hateful, abusive social media messages has put her fingers in her ears as their victim impact statements were read aloud in court.

On Tuesday the woman – who cannot be named – sat in the District Court dock and blocked out the words of the people she harassed, intimated, stalked and impersonated online.

In December, she was convicted by a jury of four counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence, and acquitted of 12 further charges.

Prosecutors had alleged she used Facebook to harass a man – who she claims raped her – and his family with threats of torture, mutilation, cannibalism and death.

They further alleged she put a $300 bounty on his head, and threatened to dig up and defile the graves of the family’s dead relatives.

The woman denied the allegations, accusing the man of having “non-consensual sex” with her after a night of drinking but insisting she was “not angry enough” to threaten him.

In their statements on Tuesday, the man and his family said they remained fearful that, if not jailed, she would resume her “criminal ravages”.

The woman, who cannot be identified, was convicted of online harassment. Picture: Thinkstock.

“In a world that relies on smart phones, I now feel on edge every morning when I see I have notifications,” one member of the family said.

Another, whom the woman impersonated online to send further abusive messages to his relatives, said he felt “helpless to stop her degradation”.

“I even got a new mobile phone number … within two days, she had obtained it and used it to set up more fake accounts,” he said.

“I felt sick to my stomach … I see her and her criminal ravages as a real threat to our safety.”

A third relative said neither Facebook nor the authorities could assist when the woman started a social media profile in the name of her dead mother.

“That triggered heartbreaking memories for all of us … she was not just attacking (the man), she was attacking our family, our friends, our memories,” she said.

“When she said she was going to desecrate our relatives’ graves, I believed her … even now, when I visit the cemetery, I worry I will find vandalism.”

Auxiliary Judge Gordon Barrett will sentence the woman on Friday.