Hervey Bay man in court for domestic violence breach
A court has heard a prisoner in a Queensland jail tried to use a fake name to cover up his attempt to call a number he was forbidden from contacting.
Police & Courts
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Attempting to contact his former partner while he was a prisoner at a correctional centre has landed a man in even more trouble with the law.
The man pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Thursday to breaching a domestic violence order by trying to use correctional service officers to contact his victim.
The court heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had written down his former partner’s phone number in order to contact her while he was in jail.
But one of the conditions of the domestic violence order was that he not contact her.
The man had included her number on his telephone list under a false name, the court was told.
Correctional officers tried to make contact with the woman to add the number to the list, believing the number belonged to a man, as per the request of the prisoner.
But they instead reached the woman, who reported the matter to police.
The prisoner later told prison officers he had provided numbers “that he could remember” and did not realise the woman’s number was among those he had listed.
Defence lawyer Mark Riedel described it as “low level offending”, adding that his client was turning his life around.
But Magistrate Trinity McGarvie said the offending was “somewhat serious” as he had used correctional service officers to try to contact his victim.
“Clearly the police aren’t accepting a defence of accident or mistake,” she said.
Mr Riedel said his client had made admissions about the offending.
Ms McGarvie said the offending undermined the protection of victims of domestic violence when it continued even with an order in place and when the perpetrator was in custody.
The sentence was adjourned until November 29, 2022 for further hearing.
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