Lawrence John Bennett pleaded guilty to unlawful stalking

An unemployed farrier made more than 3900 phone calls, 1000 of them on the one day.

Lawrence John Bennett, 43, pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful stalking when he faced Maryborough District Court on Tuesday.

Making thousands of phone calls to his estranged partner, the mother of his children, has landed a man before court, with his behaviour described by the judge as “obsessive”.

Lawrence John Bennett, 43, pleaded guilty in the Maryborough District Court on Tuesday to unlawful stalking.

Crown prosecutor Toby Corsbie said the offending related to 3937 calls to the victim recorded on the phone Bennett was using.

Mr Corsbie said the woman had set her phone to divert private numbers, but still received notifications that the calls were occurring.

Bennett also left a “number of concerning voice messages”, Mr Corsbie said.

There was also an incident in person on May 3, 2021, at the McDonalds restaurant in Gympie, he said.

During a changeover of custody, at which the children were present, Bennett threatened to “smash” her and punched his fist into his hand, then went to punch the car, Mr Corsbie said.

He was arrested 10 days later and spent 181 days in presentence custody.

Lawrence John Bennett, 43, pleaded guilty to unlawful stalking when he faced Maryborough District Court on Tuesday.

Defence barrister Peter O’Connor said his client’s behaviour had been borne out of a frustration with the custody arrangements between he and his former partner in relation to their children.

He said his actions came out of a misguided desperation to see his children rather than a “gratuitous obsessive romantic” fixation.

But Judge Vicki Loury said it was obsessive, even if it was not a romantic obsession.

“I don’t think that makes it any better,” she said.

“It’s domestic violence.”

Mr O’Connor said Bennett had worked as a farrier and travelled around regional New South Wales working.

But he was currently receiving a Newstart allowance.

He maintained a close relationship with his parents, Mr O’Connor said.

Mr O’Connor said Bennett had been doing charity work with the Salvation Army.

In her sentencing remarks, Ms Loury said Bennett had phoned the woman “excessively”.

She said over a period of 18 days in February, 2021, there was 2405 calls made and some messages were left, some in the early hours of the morning.

Then on a single day in March 2021, Bennett phoned her more than 1000 times, and that month he called her more than 2000 times, Ms Loury said.

She told Bennett that by his past conduct, he had denied his children a father.

“And by your very conduct right now, you’re completely unwilling to accept that,” Ms Loury said.

She said if he wanted a relationship with his children, he needed to change the way he behaved towards their mother.

“They deserve a father,” she said.

“You can be the father that they want you to be but if you continue to carry on like this you will lose any relationship you have with them.”

Bennett was sentenced to two years in prison but immediately released on parole, with the 181 days he spent in presentence custody declared as time served.