Ashley James Hafemeister called victim up to 17 times in one day in terrifying harassment campaign, Warwick court told

A Warwick man has been slammed by the magistrate for his ‘borderline stalking’ behaviour that involved him calling a man up to 17 times in one day.

A Warwick man who engaged in a campaign of harassment labelled as “borderline stalking” by a magistrate has faced court after missing two earlier dates.

Ashley James Hafemeister faced Warwick Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and two failure to appear charges.

The 37-year-old repeatedly phoned an ex partner and her family on their personal and work phones in 2021.

The court was told Hafemeister called up to six times in around 20 minutes from a private number on one occasion.

A friend of the victim answered the call and reported that Hafemeister had said “I’m going to stab her dad, get that up you” before hanging up.

Defence lawyer Bonnie O’Brien told the court Hafemeister had a new partner and had talked about relocating away from the area and was engaging with regular mental health help.

“He is moving on with his life,” Ms O’Brien said.

The court heart Mr Hafemeister committed a campaign of terror and harassment, including up to 17 phone calls in one day (Photo: iStock)

The court was told Hafemeister’s campaign reached “obsessive” levels in November, in which he made over 30 calls, including 17 in one day, to the victim’s father at his work and personal phone.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Hafemeister he had a “disturbing habit” that had “no justification”, with his conduct simply making the victim and her family’s life miserable.

“This is borderline stalking, you’re old enough to know better, you’ve got a new partner, hopefully that means you can stop being obsessed by the victim and her father and stop harassing them,” Ms Sturgess said.

“Hopefully you don‘t turn your obsessive and harassing behaviour on your new partner.”

Ms Sturgess told Hafemeister his previous history was “concerning” and she would be justified to send him to jail for his “repeated, unacceptable behaviour”.

“If you get a further conviction for this type of behaviour, you’re going to jail. There’s no excuse,” she said.

“Your problem is that you don’t respect boundaries and you feel entitled to inflict yourself on people who don’t want it. Clearly you cannot respect boundaries and do not know how to leave somebody alone.”

Hafemeister was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and fined $500 for missing his previous court appearances.