Bill Churchwell ex-Coffs Toyota car salesman in court, stalk road rage

A former Coffs car salesman closely followed a mum and her children, flashing his lights and ramming her car twice. He also faced court in relation to a shocking tirade of harassment following an alleged affair.

A former Coffs Harbour car salesman, who his own lawyer said had barely a friend left in the world, has faced court after a shocking tirade of harassment following an alleged affair and a separate road rage incident.

Charles William (Bill) Churchwell was a former employee of both Coffs Harbour Toyota and Mike Blewitt Ford but the court heard he had burnt his bridges with both outlets after the alleged affair and harassment via phone and online.

The 51-year-old was also facing charges in relation to a shocking road rage incident in the Park Beach area in May last year involving a woman with three children in her car.

The father of four moved to the area from Canada in 1996. He is now estranged from his wife and children, the court heard, and is keen to return to Canada to rebuild his life.

The court heard Mr Churchwell had an affair with the wife of Mark Van Ryswyck while they worked together at Coffs Harbour Toyota for approximately six months and shortly after, around December 2020 his employment was terminated.

Mr Van Ryswyck, the general manager at Coffs Harbour Toyota & Hyundai, sent Mr Churchwell an email asking him to stop contacting him or his wife but to no avail. The email was sent after legal advice given to Mr Van Ryswyck.

A few months later Mr Churchwell sent Mr Van Ryswyck three texts saying he was ‘sending an invitation to many’ and made references to his wife and children and ‘I’d love to see you, scared little boy’.

Mr Van Ryswyck did not reply and in the following days Mr Churchwell called and sent further texts – taunting him further saying ‘I can imagine you on your lunch break chewing your fingernails and watching sitcoms haha’.

When the harassment did not stop, the victim sought the assistance of Police but this did little to resolve the issue.

Mr Churchwell’s lawyer told the court his client suffered depression and struggled with alcohol and cannabis use and “complete estrangement” from his four sons.

“Mr Churchwell has literally two friends left in the area and one of them is standing before you today and that’s it.”

Despite the AVO Mr Churchwell persisted with the taunts; this time taking to Facebook boasting that his current employee Mike Blewitt could secure more Toyotas than Coffs Harbour Toyota.

The comments escalated with Mr Churchwell referring to Mr Van Ryswyck as “Warren’s little puppet”.

Warren Skinner is the owner of Coffs Harbour Toyota.

Mr Churchwell’s lawyer said the initial post was not directed at the victim but that the comments escalated to personal comments.

“He wasn’t out to threaten, he was out to mock.”

Mr Churchwell pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend.

He was convicted, but released without passing sentence on condition he gives security of $500 and complies with a number of conditions including being of good behaviour for a period of 12 months.

He also pleaded guilty to contravene prohibition/restriction in AVO (domestic) and was convicted and sentenced to a community correction order for 12 months.

Extreme act of road rage

When he appeared in Coffs Harbour Local Court on March 21, Mr Churchwell also faced a charge in relation to what Magistrate Ian Rodgers described as an “extreme act of road rage” and “very high end version of this kind of case”.

Court documents state that in May last year Mr Churchwell was behind the wheel when he turned into the Woolworths/Caltex Park Beach Plaza car park and failed to give way and another driver had to take evasive action to avoid him.

The female driver gestured to him – raising her hands.

Mr Churchwell conducted an aggressive U-turn and started following her, flashing his high beams and tooting his horn.

The woman had her three children in the car – a fact Mr Churchwell’s lawyer said he was unaware of at the time.

He followed closely behind the woman along the Pacific Highway between the intersections of Bray and Coff Streets.

According to court documents, he continued to flash his high beams and sound his horn. She locked her doors and intended to drive to the nearby police station but then Mr Churchwell bumped the back of her car and she rang triple-0.

While on the phone Mr Churchwell smashed into the back of her car a second time and the woman missed the turn-off to the police station.

She continued to update triple-0 on her situation and travelled to the intersection of Thompson’s Road where she realised he was no longer following her.

Mr Churchwell pleaded guilty to drive a motor vehicle menaces another with intent – first offence. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 10 months to commence on March 21.

The term of imprisonment was to be served by way of intensive correction in the community subject to a number of conditions including that he abstain from alcohol.

He was also convicted and fined $440 for use unregistered registrable Class A motor vehicle on road; and convicted and fined $440 for using an uninsured motor vehicle.