Gold Coast crime: Apprentice tradie faked abusive text messages from ex-partner

A Gold Coast tradie has faced court after she faked abusive text messages from her ex - here’s why.

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AN apprentice tradie faked abusive text messages from her ex-partner to help win a custody battle, a court has heard.

The case has prompted domestic violence prevention experts to call for a better family law system so parents did not take matters into their own hands.

The woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, sent four abusive messages to herself, so it looked like they came from her ex-partner. She then reported the “abuse” to Nerang police on October 8, 2018. She also provided two separate affidavits to police claiming the text messages were from her former partner.

“C***, I will kill you,” the first message read.

Another message threatened to “end you” if the children were taken away.

“You are a shit mum and they are better off without you,” the third message read.

The fourth said: “Open your mouth and I will stomp it c***.”

A police protection notice in relation to domestic violence was listed against the woman’s former partner. She was caught in mid-2019 when police reviewed call records of the woman and her ex-partner’s phones. Those records revealed the messages had been sent from the apprentice’s phone to herself.

She pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court on Tuesday to fabricating evidence and two counts of making false declarations.

Judge Catherine Muir sentenced her to 18 months’ prison with immediate parole.

She noted there had been domestic violence allegations from both the woman and her former partner.

“There were clearly ongoing issues between you and your former partner,” she said.

Crown prosecutor Gary Churchill described the offending as “persistent and quite calculated”.

Mr Churchill said when the woman told police about the messages they queried why she only had screen shots.

He said the woman told them she had deleted the messages so her children would not see them.

The court was told the woman created the text messages by sending them to her own phone, deleting the messages on the right hand side of the screen and then editing the contact information to make it look like they had come from her former partner.

Defence barrister David Cole, instructed by Rawlings Criminal Law, said the apprentice tradie now had custody of the ex-couple’s two children.

He said the federal court was aware of the charges when the custody order was made.

Mr Cole tendered to the court a psychological report that showed “it is unlikely in the extreme” that the woman would reoffend.

He said the tradie had recently lost her job as an apprentice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Outside of court, Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence director Di MacLeod said: “It’s sad that’s what it’s come to that people haven’t got faith in the justice system that they go to these lengths.”

Ms MacLeod said family law needed to be improved so parents could have faith that just decisions would be made.

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