‘You are all going to watch me die today’

South Grafton man jailed for repeatedly breaching conditions of an apprehended violence order.

A South Grafton man has been jailed for repeated breaches of an AVO.

A SOUTH Grafton man who stood in the middle of a suburban street and yelled "you are all going to watch me die today" while holding garden hedging shears has been jailed.

Dale Jerel Rixon, 41, was sentenced after pleading guilty to two charges of contravene prohibition/restriction in an apprehended violence order in Grafton Local Court on Monday.

The court heard that on May 9 this year Rixon breached the conditions of an AVO taken out by his ex-partner, and was granted conditional bail by police to comply with the AVO on the same day.

Just over a week later on May 17 at about 11.45am Rixon messaged the victim stating he was on his way to her South Grafton address to see his children. The victim asked him not to come due to Rixon previously threatening self-harm and told Rixon she did not feel comfortable with the children on his own.

According to the agreed facts the victim received messages from a witness who said they had seen Rixon walking towards the victim's house, and at the same time the victim heard a knock on door. The victim refused to open door and asked him to leave before she said she was going to call the police.

The court heard a witness saw Rixon pick up a pair of hedging shears from the front veranda of the victim's home and once out in the middle of the road witness reported Rixon started yelling "you are all going to watch me die today".

After a moment the witness saw Rixon walking to leave the area, and at 12.20pm police arrived at the location and spoke to the victim who said she had CCTV footage of the incident which showed the accused being in the front veranda of the victim's house.

The conditions of the AVO and bail that were in place at the time required Rixon not be within 100m of the victim.

Police conducted extensive patrols of the area but did not find Rixon. About 9am on May 19 police found the accused's vehicle and police cautioned him on the matter, he was placed under arrest and he was charged.

In court on Monday magistrate Kathy Crittenden sentenced Rixon to two months behind bars, to date from June 18.

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