Marley Brooke: Nowra man removes court ordered ankle tag to de-escalate argument with girlfriend

A south coast man stuck in home detention has escaped an argument with his girlfriend by destroying and removing his safe tag ankle bracelet.

Marley Brooke destroyed his home detention ankle bracelet to escape an argument with his girlfriend.

A south coast man stuck in home detention has destroyed and removed his ankle bracelet to escape an argument with his girlfriend, in what a court has heard was an “incredibly stupid” decision.

The damage to the ankle safe tag bracelet owned by NSW community corrections saw Marley Brooke, 23, wind up in Nowra Local Court on Tuesday, charged with destroying and damaging property.

The Nowra man had previously pleaded guilty to the charge.

Documents tendered to the court reveal on December 20, last year, Brooke was issued the ankle bracelet as part of an intensive correction order which involved conditions he remained on house arrest for a period of time after he continued driving while disqualified.

The court heard the house arrest period has since ended.

Documents tendered in court state if the tag was tampered with in any way, Nowra community corrections would be notified.

Marley Brooke's "stupid" decision to remove the bracelet saw him convicted in court.

Months after the device was fitted in March, an argument erupted between Brooke and his girlfriend who resides with him at the Nowra home.

The court heard the argument became so heated it led Brooke to try and deescalate the situation.

“That’s all he was trying to do,” Brooke’s lawyer Hannah Dreher said.

“There was no ill intent in removing the ankle tag, he just had to get away before the argument became worse.”

During the disagreement between Brooke and his partner, Nowra community corrections were alerted the 23-year-old man had removed the tag by unknown means, before travelling to the address where they found the device “in pieces” and Brooke nowhere to be seen.

The court documents reveal the officers questioned his partner, who stated he had “gone away to cool off” and had turned off his phone.

The following day, Brooke handed himself into Nowra community corrections, accepting he had done the wrong thing.

“He was aware it was not the right thing to do,” Ms Dreher said.

“That’s why he turned himself in – he’s trying to change his ways.”

Ms Dreher also submitted the Nowra man had been working well with community corrections since handing himself in.

“He’s been extremely cooperative,” she said.

However, Magistrate Lisa Viney said it was “just stupid” to remove the device.

“No matter how you’re feeling, the ankle tag device is there for a reason,” she said.

“And community correction officers are notified the second a device is tampered with in any way.”

When sentencing, Ms Viney conceded it was a “good sign of change” that Brooke had handed himself into corrective officers.

“You’re taking the right steps, but there are better ways to de-escalate a situation like this,” she said.

Brooke was convicted, sentenced to an 18 month supervised community corrections order and ordered to complete 75 hours of community service.

Brooke no longer requires the ankle bracelet as the home detention period has ended.