Father pleads guilty to stalking or intimidation, property damage following death of son

A Sydney father unable to accept his son’s suicide carved the word “DEAD” into a car belonging to the parent of another child he blamed for the boy’s death, a court has heard.

Liverpool Local Court.

A father unable to accept his son’s suicide carved the word “DEAD” into a car belonging to the parent of another child he blamed for the boy’s death, a court has heard.

The man, aged in his 30s, will remain behind bars after he faced Liverpool Local Court via audiovisual link last week and pleaded guilty to stalking or intimidation and intentionally damaging property.

Court documents state the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became “extremely unsettled and unpredictable” after his teenage son died by suicide in western Sydney earlier this year.

Since his son’s death, the man has created a social media account and made 56 videos blaming organisations and individuals he believed were the cause of his son’s death, and has “refused to believe the cause of his son’s death to be suicide”.

“(The man) has recently made a post on Facebook stating, ‘police are looking for me but won’t talk to me about my murdered son’,” agreed facts state.

Liverpool courthouse.

“He has mentioned he will be getting ‘revenge’ on all those involved in his son’s death.”

Four months following his son’s death, the man parked his car near the house of a teenager who witnessed the boy’s final moments.

The teenage witness’ father noticed the man picking up white rocks before disappearing into a neighbouring backyard and driving off after midnight in July.

“The (witness’ father) stated there were rocks located next to his vehicle … and noticed it had been scratched with the word ‘DEAD’ written on the rear near side of the passenger door,” the facts state.

Police were told the owner of the car was concerned for the welfare of his son, as he believed the offender blamed him for the death of his own boy “due to a previous conversation with (the man) and videos he had posted online”.

“Police fear (the offender’s) hostility towards those involved in his son’s death is progressively becoming more prevalent as he has made vocal and public threats towards these said individuals,” the facts state.

In court, the offender’s lawyer said his client had undergone extreme stress and said the language used by NSW Police in the investigation into the death of the man’s son was “unfortunate” as police assumed he had died by suicide.

“My submission is that the police can’t make that assumption,” he said.

The prosecution opposed bail and argued strict bail conditions wouldn’t mitigate the risk the man would pose to the community, arguing he was likely to “commit further serious offences”.

Magistrate Andrew Miller said while it was a “tragic situation for the loss of any child”, the difference was the man had made threats on video to get revenge on people he believed were behind his son’s death.

Mr Miller ordered the man to undergo a mental health assessment in custody before any further consideration of bail.

The matter was adjourned for sentencing in Liverpool Local Court at a later date.