Magistrate blasts ‘morally wrong’ behaviour of alleged DV victim

Andergrove man charged with breaching a protection order after he emailed his ex, but he claims the breach only happened after she was ‘harassing’ him

An Andergrove man was charged with repeatedly messaging a former partner despite a no contact condition on a domestic violence order.

A magistrate has slammed the "morally wrong" conduct of an alleged domestic violence victim as her former partner faced court for breaching a protection order.

The Andergrove man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent multiple messages and hacked into her email despite no contact being a condition on the domestic violence order.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard however the woman sent multiple threatening emails and messages to the man inviting contact even though she sought a protection order to end the relationship.

Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan, on reading the numerous communications from the woman to the man, said she "did not deserve the (temporary protection) order".

"I'm scathing of this aggrieved after reading this," Ms Hartigan said.

"She's gone to the police and complained he's contacted her, then she's demanded he contact her.

"This puts a different complexion on it; that evens things out.

"Morally, she's doing the wrong thing by contacting you."

The court heard the man texted the woman on February 19, 2021 telling her he had written and recorded a song for her, but the file was too large to send - so he emailed it three days later.

Prosecutor Sergeant Jay Merchant said the man sent another email, also on February 22, describing the woman's shortcomings including that she had not been in love with him and was only interested in his money.

On February 23 he hacked into her email using a Samsung Galaxy phone she had bought him.

Sergeant Merchant told the court the woman went to police concerned he would find out her new address, which was in her emails.

The man, who pleaded guilty to breaching a domestic violence order, told police he was only "trying to be civil" by replying to her repeated contact, which included asking him to take care of her dog.

One of the emails, he pointed out, concluded with: "Leave me alone, go find your next victim, and don't ever contact me again. Goodbye." The song was also written to "tell her to go away and leave [him] alone".

The court heard he was under the impression he could message if she contacted him first.

Self represented, the man handed up a stack of communication from the woman occurring over months.

"I only breached the order because of all this," he told the court, holding up the documents, adding the woman had been "harassing" him and members of his family.

Ms Hartigan reviewed the documents, which she said contained "threatening" and "demanding" emails and text messages sent from the woman to the man over a number of months.

"Before, during, and after the [DVO] offence, she's sending a barrage of email and texts that are threatening in nature and that are inviting contact," Ms Hartigan said.

Taking this into consideration, Ms Hartigan placed the man on a 12-month good behaviour bond. A conviction was not recorded.

Ms Hartigan warned the man "protect" himself by ceasing all correspondence with the woman.

"She'll have the last laugh because ultimately you'll get harsher and harsher penalties if you respond," she said.

The court heard the protection order will be reviewed in May.

Originally published as Magistrate blasts ‘morally wrong’ behaviour of alleged DV victim