Tyler Priestley: Newcastle man’s vile tirade at teenage girlfriend caught on police intercept

A Newcastle man’s threats to rape his teenage girlfriend and kill her grandmother have been caught on a police phone tap.

Tyler Priestley’s phone call to his then-girlfriend was intercepted by police.

A Newcastle man’s threats to rape his teenage girlfriend and kill her grandmother have been caught on a police phone tap.

Tyler Priestley was sentenced in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday, after previously pleading guilty to the offence.

The court heard the 23-year-old was on bail for an alleged violent assault on a different partner at the time of the call.

But it wasn’t his 17-year-old girlfriend who turned him in to police.

Officers laid charges after hearing the threats on a phone intercept they were conducting on June 7, last year while investigating unrelated alleged offences.

Magistrate Peter Barnett read the call transcript to the court.

Tyler Priestley was sentenced in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday. Picture: Amy Ziniak.

“I’m going to your nan’s house, I’m going to f***ing burn the place to the ground,” Mr Barnett read.

“Then I’m going to kill myself, right?

“It’s all your f***ing fault.

“Where are ya?

“Where are ya, ya f***ing dog?

“You’re at (a friend’s) house, I’m going to put a car through her f***ing roller door, you dog.

“You wait, you wait, you f***ing little s***, I’m going to slit your nan’s throat and piss all over her face, you f***ing dog.

“I’m going to get (a friend) and we’re going to come and f***ing rape you, ya f***ing dog.”

The shocking tirade was read out in Newcastle Local Court.

Mr Barnett said the threats were more serious than the average intimidation offence.

“The threats of what he’s going to do to the grandmother are awful,” he said.

“The threat of what he and (the friend) are going to do to the young lady is just as awful, if not worse.

“How terrible is it to threaten someone, when she’s 17, ‘I’m going to take my life and it’s all your fault’?

“This offence has stepped over the point, in my opinion.”

Priestley’s lawyer Steven Wendtman told the court his client was using ice at the time of the call.

“It’s a scourge on society,” Mr Wendtman said.

“This is the behaviour that a normal, young man from a loving family gets up to (while on ice).”

Priestly appeared in Newcastle Local Court.

Mr Wendtman said Priestly was making fortnightly visits to a counsellor and GP.

“He has, as he’s said in his letter, self-medicated but he’s now on medication for depression and anxiety,” he said.

“He also has his name down for a bed in a two-week program.”

Mr Barnett said Priestley’s ice use explained, but did not excuse, his behaviour.

“If it’s the ice that’s the cause of everything, go back to being what your parents raised, or what they thought they raised.”

Priestley was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, to be served in the community as an intensive corrections order.

He must abstain from drugs and alcohol, and continue mental health treatment as conditions of the order.