Domestic violence offenders who have appeared in Warwick Magistrates Court revealed

Disturbing domestic violence offenders have caused terror and harassment to their victims and their crimes have been exposed in Warwick courts in the last year. WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT.

They live in our community and commit some horrific offences, but now can finally can be exposed for their vile crimes.

It’s a shocking statistic that one in six women experience physical or sexual violence by a partner they lived with in the past year.

From a woman who harassed her husband to get some decade-old disputed dolls back, to a man who disturbingly admitted he could go to jail if he was caught stalking his ex-wife, these are the offenders from your community who have been sentenced for domestic violence crimes.

CONVICTIONS RECORDED

A well-known Stanthorpe businessman fronted court in July over a terrifying encounter with his ex and her new partner at a busy Granite Belt shopping precinct.

The Stanthorpe man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was sentenced in Warwick Magistrates Court on July 5 after pleading guilty to two charges of contravening a domestic violence order and wilful damage, common assault and possessing a knife in a public place.

The court was told that on May 28, 2023, the 43-year-old was found by his ex-partner sitting in her car with a “large” hunting knife hidden in his pants.

The man began to fight with the woman’s new partner, before slashing the woman’s tires.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Grafton noted the man had four prior domestic violence incidents and hadn’t learnt from his previous sentences.

Disturbingly, it was revealed the man had been on probation since August 2022 for other offending.

Acting magistrate Andrew Cridland said the offending was a “serious escalation” of the previous four offences and the seriousness of the offending was “alarming”.

“At all times through the encounter, you are armed with a knife, that’s probably a millimetre away from a disaster because if that knife was produced in such a situation we’d be probably be looking at a charge of murder here today, which is something the court needs to be aware of,” he said.

The man was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, with a parole release after three months. He had 38 days in custody as time served.

FULL STORY

•

A jilted lover’s ‘disturbing’ compulsion over his ex-wife came to light after details of his months-long stalking campaign were revealed in court.

William Eric Robert Stuart faced Warwick Magistrates Court in November last year, pleading guilty to unlawful stalking.

The then-63-year-old drove from his home in Stanthorpe to stand outside his wife of 40 years’ workplace, drove past, and left messages on her phone over a period from May to July in 2022.

Stuart leaving court following his sentencing

Bizarrely, Stuart admitted to a taxi driver he could be jailed after ordering the driver to drive past his ex-wife’s home.

She reported her ex-husband’s unsettling behaviour, telling police it left her “shaken and distressed”.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess labelled Stuart’s offending as “alarming” and said his “obsession with his wife and subsequent actions resulting in repeated detention in custody is of concern”.

Stuart was sentenced to nine months’ jail, which was suspended for 18 months.

FULL STORY

•

A Warwick man’s use of a bank service to harass and send ‘unwanted’ messages to a woman was exposed, with the magistrate left shocked over the disturbing use of a typical service.

The offending took place in March this year, with a Warwick man – who cannot be named for legal reasons - using a mobile cash transfer service as a method of contacting a woman who had a protection order against him.

The 26-year-old sent a handful of messages in a “sneaky way” alongside a bank transfer of $3.11, with things like “do you still love me” and “has anyone proposed to you yet?”

The man pleaded guilty on September 11 to one charge of aggravated breaching of a protection order.

“You cannot use this financial transfer as an excuse to ask the woman if anyone had proposed to her or if she still loves you because none of those things are any of your business and you’ve got to move on,” Ms Sturgess said.

“You’ve got no business to be contacting her in this way and clearly, she doesn’t want your contact at all.”

The man was sentenced to a total of three months’ imprisonment, released immediately on parole.

Convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY

•

An ex-bikie who harassed a woman to the degree she was in “fear every time her phone rang” has had his “very disturbing” criminal history revealed in court.

Texas man Rehn Neil Fraser began chatting to a woman in November 2022, but it wasn’t long before he orchestrated a campaign of terror and harassment against the woman over a period of December 12, 2022 to January 9, 2023.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Steve de Lissa told Warwick Magistrates Court the bikie-turned-fisherman began calling the woman from an unknown number.

Rehn Neil Fraser outside Warwick Magistrates Court on Wednesday 23 August

“In the period of offending he called the victim 17 times at all hours of the day, and night, and the victim was fearful whenever she would see a call from a private number,” the sergeant told the court.

Sergeant de Lissa noted that the man had a relevant Queensland criminal history, as well as offending in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.

In Warwick Magistrates Court, he pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful stalking.

Although the “continuous” calls made the victim “live in fear,” Ms Hine said there was no physical assault or face-to-face contact between the man and the victim.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess said the escalation to offending was “concerning” as the man had only met the woman a matter of weeks before the harassment began.

“You are at a very real risk to continue committing offences – it’s up to you to address that.”

The man was sentenced to one month imprisonment but was released immediately on parole, with three months in custody declared as time served.

FULL STORY

NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED

A Warwick mum’s desire to get disputed dolls back after almost a decade has landed her in front of the magistrate, a court has been told.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one charge of contravening a domestic violence order on Monday, September 18.

The court was told the woman in her 50s breached the no contact rule of an order set up against the woman by her ex-husband of 20 years, with the pair being separated for nine years.

From the period of June 27 to July 1 of this year, the mother sent three texts to the man.

The first text regarded the woman seeking the return of a figurine, demanding the “return of the Willow Tree figurines”.

The mum fired back days later after being met with no reply, messaging the man to discuss child support, despite the fact the oldest child the pair had together was a legal adult. She messaged the man “sorry, delete that” one day later.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess said the woman’s decision to breach the order and contact the man was “very stupid”.

“You’ve given evidence (for the man) to take to police, and charge you with breaking the order,” Ms Sturgess said.

“There is no one to blame but yourself, by doing stupid things you end up in court.”

The woman was slapped with a $750 fine. No convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY

•

A Warwick woman faced a Commonwealth charge of using a carrier service to menace or harass from November 30 to December 5, 2022, alongside 12 unrelated charges.

Naomi Elliot pleaded guilty in July at Warwick Magistrates Court, after disturbing details were revealed, with records showing messages sent by Elliott included “you are a f--king c--t, everyone can see,” and “watch over your shoulder”.

The court was told the woman that Elliott had published details over Facebook regarding a person making “false statements” in order to get a DVO, writing “how putrid can you get” before posting a copy of the application.

The application had the full details of the victim involved, including the name and the particulars of the application, which was labelled as “extremely concerning” by the magistrate.

“It’s concerning in this circumstance, the offence of using a carrier service and publishing a DV application is a serious way to menace or harass a person to stir sentiment or feelings towards them,” acting magistrate Andrew Cridland said.

For the Commonwealth charge of menace and harassment via a carriage service, Elliott was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, released immediately on a good behaviour bond for one year.

No conviction was recorded.

•

A Warwick man’s decision to “visit his kids” with a carload of people just before midnight resulted with him ending up in court.

The 23-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence order by visiting his children in a bizarre late-night road trip while they were asleep.

The Warwick-based 23-year-old made the trip on February 4 to Goondiwindi to “see his children with consent of the mother”, Warwick Magistrates Court was told.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told the man that 11.30pm, when the children were asleep, was “not an appropriate time to visit”.

The court was told the man and a “carload” of people arrived at the woman’s address, and she was in her bedroom as the man yelled out from outside that “he wanted to talk with the kids”.

Not wanting any drama, the court was told the woman allowed the man inside but requested the carload of people to leave.

The man then yelled something back at her, to which the woman told the man to come back tomorrow.

The man continually asked where the kids were and requested the woman came outside to talk.

The man then yelled out ”where are my kids” and ”I’ll be coming back” before being told the police were coming to the address.

The man then yelled “f--k this” before driving away.

“You have to comply with the order, there’s nothing wrong with seeing your children you just must do it in a more positive way,” magistrate Sturgess said.

The man was met with a $600 fine with no convictions recorded.