Bundaberg man Richard William Goulding pleads guilty to stalking, stealing

A young former concreter’s disturbing threats that left an ex-partner feeling “terrified” have been laid bare as the 27-year-old faced his punishment.

Richard Goulding also pleaded guilty to three charges of theft during which he stole fuel from service stations more than once.

A former concreter turned stalker received stern words from Magistrate Edwina Rowan when the 27-year-old faced court.

“Leave her alone,” Ms Rowan told Richard William Goulding.

Goulding pleaded guilty to nine charges in the Bundaberg Magistrates court on Tuesday including unlawful stalking, possession of dangerous drugs, driving without a licence and three charges of theft.

Police Prosecutor Tina Bland told the court Goulding violated a protection order when he unlawfully contacted an ex-partner in August.

She told the court Goulding contacted his ex-partner on Snapchat hoping to reform the relationship, which she denied.

The court heard Goulding’s victim blocked him on Snapchat, but then received a large number of phone calls.

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“In one of the calls Goulding left the victim a voicemail message saying she was a prostitute,” Sergeant Bland said.

The court was told that other voicemails included Goulding threatening to come to the victim’s house, stating he didn’t care about the protection order.

“The victim was terrified due to a previous incident where she had been assaulted by Goulding in 2020,” Sergeant Bland said.

The threatening calls and voicemails escalated, and the court heard Goulding threatened to kill the victim if she went to the police, and threatened to stab her in the face.

The court heard he also threatened to take the victim at gunpoint to her suspected partner’s home and shoot the suspected partner in front of her.

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The court heard the victim went to the Bundaberg Police Station where the calls continued.

“Goulding left a voicemail and he said ‘guess what c--t, you think the cops are going to help you, they’re not,” Sergeant Bland said.

“They’re not going to touch me mate, if they do I’ll be dead, they’ll be putting me into a body bag because I’m not going to f---ing stop.”

Goulding’s legal representative Matt Messenger said family health issues and the relationship break down had contributed to the situation.

“This has been a contributing factor to the lack of balance in his life, there’s no justification for what he’s done but there can be an explanation as to why he has behaved in such an extreme way,” Mr Messenger said.

Ms Rowan said society views offences such as the ones committed by Goulding as particularly serious and the punishment handed down would need to be seen as a deterrent.

Goulding was sentenced 12 months prison with a parole date set for January 14 2023.