Whayne Phillip Jang punished for using prison phone to pervert justice in DV case

A Townsville prisoner was either ‘foolish’ or ‘brazen’ when he repeatedly used the phone at the correctional centre to urge his DV victim drop charges against him.

A prisoner who repeatedly used Townsville Correctional Centre’s phones to urge a woman to drop domestic violence charges against him was roasted by a judge for being “foolish” or “brazen”.

A court heard Whayne Phillip Jang, 41, had an argument with a woman while they were in bed on November 30, 2020.

Crown prosecutor Thamsina Papadimitriou said Jang was “heavily intoxicated” at the time.

“(Jang) punched her in the face and then he choked her for about four seconds during which time she struggled to breathe and speak,” Ms Papadimitriou said.

Whayne Phillip Jang pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert justice and 82 counts of contravening a police protection notice. Picture: Supplied.

“After he released her, he bit her on the jaw line and when she yelled at him to stop, he choked her again.”

When he was taken into custody, Jang disregarded a police protection notice forbidding him from contacting the victim.

Using the prison phone he spoke to her a total of 82 times between March and August of 2021. Each conversation was recorded.

“On 12 of those phone calls, he repeatedly encouraged the complainant to drop the charges, instructed her to attend the courthouse, complete a statutory declaration and provide it to the solicitor in place and the complainant when she tried to withdraw the charges,” Ms Papadimitriou said.

She said Jang provided the woman with examples of what to say to police: “say I want the charges dropped, you were emotional that night”.

Despite the woman’s efforts to follow his instructions, police refused to drop the charges and Jang was convicted to 2.5 years imprisonment on August 6, 2021.

In January he was taken into custody over the calls before appearing in Townsville District Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert justice (domestic violence offence) and 82 counts of contravening a police protection notice.

Whayne Phillip Jang pleaded guilty to trying to pervert justice from prison. Picture: Supplied.

Defence barrister Michael Hibble described the situation as a “strange one”.

He said Jang had been instructing his solicitor to plead guilty while trying to get the woman to withdraw the charges in what was “perhaps one of the silliest examples of attempting to pervert the course of justice”.

Mr Hibble said it was positive that Jang had not spoken to the woman in a year.

Judge Gregory Lynham described Jang’s criminal history as “appalling” and his offending in these circumstances as “lamebrained”.

“Either you’re too foolish to understand the consequences of making those phone calls in circumstances where they were being recorded, or your offending was simply brazen,” Judge Lynham said.

“But at the very least, it was an ill conceived attempt by you to have the complainant withdraw the charges against you.”

Allowing for 239 days served in pre-sentence custody, the judge sentenced Jang to 21 months imprisonment, suspended immediately for a two year operational period.

Originally published as Whayne Phillip Jang punished for using prison phone to pervert justice in DV case