Penrith: Dion Belcastro threatened Supreme Court Justice after property dispute

A Sydney father of two will be sentenced after sending a chilling email from a hospital bed threatening a high court judge who ordered his eviction from his house. READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT.

Dion Belcastro has been charged with threatening a judicial officer. Picture: Supplied

A father will spend the next month behind bars on remand after he threatened to “break every bone” in a high court judge’s body following a court-ordered eviction from his western Sydney home.

Penrith Local Court heard that Dion Belcastro, who appeared in court via video link from the Amber Laurel correctional centre, had threatened a Supreme Court Justice through a terrifying email to his associate a few days earlier.

The 40-year-old pleaded guilty to a threatening a person for being a judicial officer and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, along with unrelated charges of driving with a drug in his saliva and a domestic violence charge of stalking or intimidating.

It came after the judge ordered Belcastro’s eviction and repossession of his Emu Plains home after he defaulted on mortgage repayments.

Belcastro, unhappy with the outcome, applied for an urgent appeal on the decision however the original order was upheld.

The court was told Belcastro called the judge’s associate later that day to share his “dissatisfaction” with the order, and followed up with two emails the next day.

Court documents state Belcastro, who was recovering in the Nepean Hospital after a knee reconstruction, sent two pictures of his left leg in a brace, followed by a separate email explaining his situation and venting his frustrations about the court order.

He called the judge a “cold hearted person” who had “thrown him out of his house” and threatened him if he did not revoke the order.

“Once I am better I’ll spend (two) weeks at the court waiting for him and I’ll break every bone in is (sic) body and make sure he suffers like I am and don’t think for a second I won’t,” he wrote, according to court documents.

This was reported to police, who visited Belcastro in hospital the next day for questioning.

Court documents state Belcastro admitted he had sent the email, explaining his actions were because he “was angry and in pain”.

Lawyer Derrick Humphries said his client had a melanoma on the back of his neck which was scheduled to be surgically removed in the coming weeks, along with having his knee in a brace following replacement.

He told the court his client’s actions were spurred by anger over his house being foreclosed on, combined with the pain from his knee and anxiety about having nowhere to live.

Dion Belcastro in 2018. Picture: Social media

Belcastro tried to explain himself to Magistrate Brian van Zuylen, apologised for his actions and said he was in “severe pain” following his surgery.

“I am very, very sorry for what I said even making that little remark,” he said.

He was disqualified from driving for three months for the drug driving charge, but will have to wait until February 28 to learn his fate for the remaining charges.

He was refused bail on the charges relating to the judge, and was remanded in custody until sentence.