Murgon Magistrates Court: 38-year-old given extra time behind bars for calling victim from jail

A magistrate has said inadequate protocols are allowing domestic violence perpetrators to ‘dictate’ their own jail terms and continue to harass their victims, with one offender phoning his victim nearly a dozen times in just two days.

A magistrate has warned inadequate checks are allowing domestic violence perpetrators to continue to menace their victims from behind bars, with one offender phoning his victim nearly a dozen times in just two days.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair made the scathing comments while sentencing a 38-year-old South Burnett man for repeated contact with his victim during his term of imprisonment.

The man, you cannot be named to protect the woman, was serving a nine-month jail term for assaulting her and breaching a non-contact order.

Despite the same order remaining in place while he served his sentence, he was able to call her repeatedly by simply telling corrections officers the phone number belonged to someone else.

On May 19 and 24, the man made a total of nine separate phone calls to his victim.

The man appeared in Murgon Magistrates Court via videolink where he pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a domestic violence order.

Mr Sinclair noted how easy it appeared to be to circumvent the protection orders while behind bars.

“Apparently no checks whatsoever are done by the prison, or inadequate checks are done by the prison,” he said.

While the court was told the phone calls were not threatening in nature, Mr Sinclair said he expected he would continue to see offenders returning to court for similar offences unless changes were made.

He also made it clear he had to send a message to the father-of-two and other DV perpetrators.

“Otherwise, we’re allowing prisoners to dictate the terms on which they serve their custodial sentences,” he said.

“Whilst I can’t stop you making phone calls from prison, and neither apparently can the prison, I can impose an additional sentence.”

The man was sentenced to an additional three months behind bars and will be eligible for parole on September 12.