Defence Department bureaucrat Thomas Linden Wells sentenced over ‘frenzied’ stalking
A defence force bureaucrat has been sentenced, following a barrage of text messages and phone calls to his former best mate, after the friendship went sour.
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A defence force bureaucrat who subjected his former best mate to a “frenzied” stalking campaign hopes to climb the ranks at work after he deals with his mental health issues, a court has heard.
Thomas Linden Wells, 43, faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday where his lawyer, unsuccessfully argued he should be spared a conviction so he would have a better chance of being cleared for a high-level security clearance.
Wells had earlier pleaded guilty to what Acting Chief Magistrate Glenn Theakston described a “frenzied campaign” of stalking against his former best mate.
The court heard Wells sent 100 abusive text messages and made 27 phone unanswered phone calls to his victim within a day.
Wells had let the man stay at his house, but the relationship between the men soured, culminating in the victim threatening Wells with an axe and being charged with weapons offences, which he is contesting.
Wells’s lawyer said her client, a former supermarket manager, was on leave dealing with a raft of mental health issues, but hoped to remain a public servant.
Prosecutor Bridget Atkinson said Wells’s behaviour was made worse because his victim was banned from contacting him under a restraining order stemming from the alleged axe attack.
She said Wells “clearly knew” he shouldn’t have been contacting his victim.
Mr Theakston said he might have let Wells off without a conviction had he only sent a “handful” of the messages.
“(But) the sheer number of attempts to contact (the victim) suggest to me that’s not appropriate,” he said.
Mr Theakston said Wells “sought the protection of the court” by applying for the restraining order, only to “attempt what can only be described as a sustained and perhaps frenzied campaign” of text messages and phone calls.
Mr Theakston sentenced Wells to a 15-month good behaviour order and recorded a conviction.
Outside court, Wells demanded his photo not be taken, saying: “I’m not a paedophile”.