Domestic violence offenders face Warwick Magistrates Court - list

A man whose ‘intimidatory, bully-like’ string of abuse escalated until a stranger called the police was just one of the domestic violence offenders sentenced in Warwick court this week.

A man who verbally abused and intimidated his ex-partner in an explosive tirade at their workplace was just one of the Warwick residents sentenced for domestic violence offences this week.

Police were called to a Warwick business on the night of November 7 after an altercation had broken out between the pair, who worked at the same place but were supposed to work separate shifts due to the domestic violence order in place.

Warwick Magistrates Court heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began abusing the woman when she arrived for her shift and frequently interrupted her while she was serving customers.

Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said the verbal attacks continued for about 30 minutes until a member of the public called the police out of concern for the woman.

“The aggrieved was attempting to walk away from the defendant to avoid conflict, but he’s continued following her and throwing his hands in the air and being abusive,” Sergeant de Lissa said.

“Things like ‘stupid’, ‘b —ch’, ‘re —rd’ were among the things he said. The (woman) was visibly distressed by the time police arrived.”

Duty lawyer Phillip Crook initially contended the abuse went back and forth between the man and his victim, but the line of argument was eventually overruled as it did not match the facts presented by the prosecution.

Mr Crook said the woman had since left her job at the business due to the stress of the role, stipulating it was not because of the incident or that the man still worked there.

Mr Noud slammed the man’s “deplorable, intimidatory, and bully-like” conduct and said his previous convictions of assault and breaching domestic violence orders were concerning.

“It has the feel of intimidation. It must have been pretty serious, because a member of the public contacted police or the authorities,” he said.

The man pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence order and was placed on probation for nine months.

Another man’s attempt to contact his family while serving time behind bars landed him in Warwick court.

The 41-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was an inmate at the Borallon Correctional Centre when he sent a letter to the mother of his children on December 8 last year.

Sergeant de Lissa told Warwick Magistrates Court the correspondence was intercepted by the authorities so never reached the woman, but the attempt was still a breach of a domestic violence order in place.

Defence lawyer Hamish Chapman submitted character references from the man’s landlord and employer to the court, arguing the breach was at the lowest end of the scale.

“What we’re dealing with here is an attempt to contact, not a direct contact. The letter doesn’t contain any threatening language, and to a greater extent doesn’t contain any coarse language,” he said.

Mr Chapman said his client only risked sending the letter to apologise to the woman and express his wish to provide for his children at Christmas.

The court was told the man had convictions for violent offences in his criminal history, but had made significant efforts to turn his life around such as obtaining stable employment and a driver’s licence.

He pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence order and was fined $850.

A Southern Downs man faced Warwick Magistrates Court after contravening a domestic violence order twice in one month.

The order banned the 27-year-old man from contacting or being within 50m of his ex-partner, but it didn’t stop the pair from going to the pub together on November 5.

Sergeant de Lissa said the man got into a fight at the pub and police were told of his involvement, so went to his home and questioned why he’d been out with his ex-partner.

“He said he was aware of the order, but didn’t think he was breaching it,” he said.

It was less than a month later on December 2 that the man was again nabbed breaching the order, with police patrols spotting him dropping his ex to work at Victoria Hill.

Duty lawyer Phillip Crook told the Warwick court the man and woman were together voluntarily on both occasions, with the ex-partner herself asking the man to drop her to work during the December floods on the second occasion.

Mr Crook said his client and the woman had been trying to reignite their relationship, which was why they were spending so much time together.

The man pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a domestic violence order and was fined $450.

No conviction was recorded.