Tristane Webb jailed for rape, stalking, violence

From preying on a young girl to threatening to turn a neighbour’s cats into crab bait, the sickening crimes of a “manipulative” mechanic turned stalker have been revealed.

A “manipulative” 32-year-old mechanic who groomed and raped a young girl and waged a campaign of “terror” against his neighbours has been jailed.

Tristane Shane William Webb, from Monkland, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court Thursday to 20 crimes committed across a period of more than a year.

He was supported by his mother, who sat in the gallery crying as the details of Webb’s offending were laid bare in a marathon sentencing hearing which ran more than three hours.

Judge Bernard Porter said Webb groomed the young girl over a prolonged period using a combination of manipulation, his “position of power”, force and persistence.

At one point, the court was told, when the girl pointed out the age difference he told her “anything above 12 is OK”.

Webb pleaded guilty to grooming, indecent treatment of a child, two counts of rape, five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, five counts of common assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, wilful damage, serious threatening violence, unlawful stalking with violence, two counts of threatening violence at night, and strangulation (relating to a third matter unconnected to the grooming or stalking crimes).

Monkland man, Tristane Shane William Webb pleaded guilty to 20 charges in Gympie District Court, including unlawful stalking, common assault and threatening violence at night.

In a separate series of crimes Webb had conducted what the Crown Prosecutor called a “campaign of terror” against his neighbours, a family with children.

The court heard over a period of several months Webb stalked the woman, making numerous violent threats towards her family.

These included threats to burn their house down, threatening to stab a man on the family’s property with scissors, and threatening to smash their cars with a metal bar.

The prosecutor said Webb threatened the family’s pets too, telling the woman “if he ever saw any of her cats near his yard he would kill them and use them as bait in his crab pots”.

The threat drove the family to surrender their pets to the RSPCA.

Tristane Shane William Webb is escorted from Gympie District Court. He was supported by his mother as the disturbing nature of his crimes was read out in a sentencing hearing which lasted more than three hours.

The court also heard that, in another unrelated matter, Webb assaulted another man by grabbing him by the throat during a dispute over the use of a car.

Judge Porter said that while these kind arguments happened all the time “what you don’t do is threaten the person that is talking to you”.

Webb’s criminal behaviour, including the contents of his six-page record, showed a repeated pattern of “threatening violence when people don’t do what you want”, the Judge said.

It was a “pattern of not accepting the rights of other people”.

Webb, who had been in custody since late 2020 for breaching a nine month suspended sentence for drug charges, submitted a letter of apology to the court.

The court heard it was his first actual stint behind bars, and he had been using the time to rehabilitate himself, completing certificates in hospitality.

Judge Porter handed Webb a seven-year jail term for his latest offending, making him eligible for parole from May 1, 2023.