Gympie man terrorised woman with death threats and makeshift gun in public
A Gympie labourer's terror spree against a woman involved makeshift weapons, death threats and reversing while she was still getting out of the car.
A Gympie labourer has been sentenced for terrorising his partner at Gympie Centro, then making death threats towards her and her family.
Kolbie Jae De La Cruz-Sampson, 23, was sentenced at Gympie District Court on Friday, where his concerning behaviour and repeated history of violence against women was revealed.
Cruz-Sampson pleaded guilty to stalking his 21-year-old partner and stealing her car, driving while disqualified, possessing a makeshift gun and flick knife, and attempted stealing.
The court heard that within a fortnight of a previous eight-month sentence expiring, Cruz-Sampson and his partner drove in her car to Gympie Central Shopping Centre, and after an argument, he tried to take her car keys from her back pocket on June 8, this year.
She then entered Big W inside the shopping complex, when Cruz-Sampson began “calling her, trying to get her to hurry up”, Judge Sarah Farnden KC said.
The court heard at some point the partner called her sister “out of fear” and asked her to attend.
“You told her you were going to come up and strangle her in front of everyone … she became scared and was trying to hide in the shop,” Judge Farnden said.
“You sent her a video on Snapchat of you in your car, and … some wiring, pretending, it seems, to cut some wires.”
The sister of the victim then arrived, and the pair came up to the car where Cruz-Sampson “appeared to be doing something under the bonnet”.
After refusing multiple times to give her partner the car keys, she eventually relented “out of fear of retaliation”, and the court heard Cruz-Sampson began reversing out of the car park while the victim “was still in the passenger side door trying to get her things out of the glove box”.
While the sisters were in their car, they “could see (Cruz-Sampson) was revving and doing skids”, Judge Farnden said.
He then called his partner again and “threatened to ram her sister’s car”.
Over the next few days, the court heard the partner “recovered her car” and Cuz-Sampson “threatened to bash her and her mother”.
He “incessantly” phoned her “approximately 20 times” on June 14, and when the partner indicated she wished to end the relationship, “repeatedly called her a c--t” and threatened to shoot her, her sister and her mother if “she didn’t return to the relationship”.
The court heard police later went to his East Deep Creek home and found a mechanical flick knife and homemade gun “that looked like a pen” with a .22 calibre round inside of it, along with a box of the ammunition.
Cruz-Sampson had earlier shown his partner the homemade gun, and a photo of himself “brandishing” the knife while threatening suicide, the court heard.
It also heard his criminal history contained previous offences against another partner, with uses of violence that included punching, slapping, neck-grabbing and vehicle ramming.
His defence lawyer told the court he had informed Cruz-Sampson “if he keeps behaving like this with women, he’s going to end up in jail for the rest of his life”, and that his recent time behind bars was an indication of “what lies ahead of him if he doesn’t pull his socks up”.
The court heard Cruz-Sampson, who had worked as a concreter, had engaged and participated in several programs including a substance abuse program while in custody, where he had been since his arrest on June 17.
Cruz-Sampson started using methamphetamine at a “very young age”, and “had a very disadvantaged childhood, growing up in an environment where (he was) surrounded by drugs, alcohol and violence”, it was told.
Judge Farnden suggested he make use of the “further supervision and opportunities” that would be extended to him, and the support he had with family.
A letter from a former employer said he would look to continue employing Cruz-Sampson on his release.
A head sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment was imposed, with an immediate release on parole set for November 28.
His suspended sentence from December 3, 2024 was activated.
