Zane Alchin sentenced for breaching AVOs with prison phone calls

A Caringbah man with an “entrenched history” of domestic violence against partners went to “great lengths” to hide contacting his ex-partner from prison.

Zane Alchin, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

A Caringbah man with an “entrenched history” of domestic violence against partners went to “great lengths” to hide contacting his ex-partner from prison.

Zane Alchin, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order and was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.

Last year Alchin was jailed for 18 months after he was found guilty of four charges including assault and intimidation of his ex-partner following a hearing at Downing Centre Local Court.

Alchin was found not guilty of another 11 charges, including choking without consent, while he pleaded guilty to using a phone to harass his ex-partner.

His sentence was backdated to his arrest in July 2022 and he was released from custody in June.

Alchin and the same ex-partner’s on-again-off-again relationship was “marred by reported assaults and intimidations”, according to agreed facts tendered to the court.

Zane Alchin during a previous court appearance.

Following his arrest for the domestic violence charges, Alchin was served with an apprehended domestic violence order to protect his former partner while he was on remand.

On Christmas Day 2022, the woman received a missed call and a voice message from Alchin saying “hi, I was just ringing to say Merry Christmas, bye”.

Alchin called twice from the same number and on the third call the woman answered.

She heard an automated message: “You are receiving a call from the John Morony Correctional Centre”.

The woman accepted and recognised Alchin’s voice.

At one stage, the woman said “what do you mean, you’re in jail because you f------ abused me” and Alchin responded with, “yeah so where do we go from here?”

Alchin repeatedly asked for her address but she refused to tell him.

The woman told police she believed Alchin wanted to know where she lived so he could see her when he was released.

Alchin called again later that night and they had a conversation before the woman hung up.

Alchin was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court.

On January 22 last year, the woman reported the AVO breach.

She provided her phone’s call log to police and said Alchin was the only person she knew in prison.

She told police she referred to Alchin by name during the call and he responded.

Police checked Alchin’s prison call log but nothing was found so officers asked for the logs of Alchin’s cellmate.

Police determined Alchin called his cellmate’s friend, who then diverted calls to the woman’s mobile.

Alchin was charged on June 5 – a day after he was released from prison.

Police were delayed in charging Alchin because of “great lengths” he went to in jail to hide his contact with his ex, the documents state.

Magistrate Holly Kemp said that given the delay in Alchin being charged with the AVO breaches, he was unable to be sentenced when he was jailed for the original domestic violence offences.

“If the circumstances has been slightly different you would have been jailed [for these offences],” she said.

Ms Kemp noted his “entrenched history” of domestic violence against partners, adding not even jail deterred him from breaching the court-ordered AVOs.

She took into account the nature of the calls and that he initially did not have full insight into his crimes but had since shown remorse.

Ms Kemp also took into account his letter of apology, his now stable employment, family ties and that he completed a domestic violence offenders program called Enough is Enough.

Alchin was sentenced to community correction orders where he must be of good behaviour and will be supervised.

Originally published as Zane Alchin sentenced for breaching AVOs with prison phone calls