Alan Self pleads guilty to menacing Warwick women with vile phone calls

Multiple women were left ‘fearful’ after receiving perverted calls at work, in which a Warwick man quizzed them on intimate grooming, asked to meet in toilets and bragged about his genitals.

Warwick police station and courthouse.

A former fireman subjected multiple women to depraved phone calls where he asked about their intimate grooming and sex habits, bragged about his “size” and asked to meet up in toilets.

Alan Douglas Self targeted women at multiple Warwick businesses between December 8 last year and January 6.

The former long-serving firefighter appeared in Warwick Magistrates Court supported by his wife of more than five decades, and who is now his carer.

The court was told the 78-year-old left women fearful by his harassment, with magistrate Virginia Sturgess delivering a strong condemnation of his actions.

“In each case a woman has answered the phone and in each case you have made disgusting, sexist remarks to these women,” she said.

“(The first victim) reported that you phoned (and) when she answered the phone, you said, ‘Do you shave the hairs off your p---y?’

“What a horrible thing to say to a person answering a phone in the course of their employment.

“You then rang again some 10 minutes later and said, ‘Are you a virgin?’ and that was reported to the police.

“Unsurprisingly, the poor woman was very upset as a result of you saying these things to her.”

Ms Sturgess said the Harvey Norman centre was the next target, with workers left fearful by the calls.

“You said again, ‘do you shave your p---y?’ And then in a further call, ‘do you want to meet me in the toilet?’ Then a further call with another victim at the same business, where you said, ‘I’m not sure what it is in metric, but in imperial value my penis is 11 inches,” she said.

Self also targeted another business, where he again asked a female employee about her grooming habits.

Alan Self worked as a fireman at the Warwick station (pictured above), with his career spanning almost four decades. He has now pleaded guilty to harassing women with lewd phone calls to their workplaces. Photo Warwick Daily News

Ms Sturgess said the harassment of women at their workplaces was “completely unacceptable” and there was “no explanation” for Self’s behaviour.

“There is simply no good reason whatsoever for you doing this, other than it seems some sort of gratification that you might have got from upsetting or ruining the days of people going about their lawful business,” she said.

“I don’t know what it was like in your day, Mr Self, but in this era, in 2023, we do not tolerate people being spoken to in this way, women being disrespected in this way.”

“People, and particularly women, are entitled to do their jobs without being sexually harassed or propositioned, or have these vile things said to them.”

Lawyer Phil Crook told the court his client, who uses a wheelchair after losing a leg to diabetes and who suffers from a range of other health issues, had no previous criminal history and had been a contributing member of society.

“He has spent a lot of time in the service of the community; he was in what used to be called the CMF, the voluntary army,” he said.

“He spent 38 years in the fire brigade here in Warwick as a full-time fireman, where he reached the level of senior first-class A-grade fireman, and he said he has receive a medal and a letter from the mayor for saving a couple of people from a fire.”

Ms Sturgess said his otherwise “productive life” didn’t negate his offending.

“None of that is an excuse to treat these women to such disrespectful and nasty behaviour by you,” she said.

Self pleaded guilty to three counts of using a carriage service to menace or harass, and was fined $1000.

Ms Sturgess allowed Self six months to pay and advised he faced 10 days in jail if he defaulted.

The elderly man was warned as he exited the courtroom to not make any further menacing calls, to which he mumbled, “I won’t”.