Man sentenced in Townsville District Court for ‘grotesque and cowardly’ 643 phone calls from jail

A Townsville judge has blasted a man with a history of violence for making a series of “vile” phone calls in which he threatened to kill a woman and insulted her intelligence, noting he has never held a job.

A man was recently sentenced in Townsville District Court for “grotesque and cowardly” 643 phone calls from jail. Picture: istock

An offender with a history that reflects hatred towards women has been slammed by a judge after calling a woman hundreds of times from behind bars, threatening to kill her and insulting the woman’s intelligence as a man who’s never held a job.

The man who can’t be named to protect the identity of the woman, was sentenced in Townsville District Court by Judge Farr SC who labelled the offending as “vile” which was outlined in court documents.

His Honour said the 28-year-old man called a woman 643 times in four months while in custody in breach of a domestic violence order between June and September 2022.

“Some of those calls were abusive. Some were threatening to kill. Insulting language was used,” Judge Farr outlined.

“Remarkably, you were making insulting comments about her level of intelligence. That is coming from you. You have never had a job. You did not finish grade 10. And you are insulting someone else.

“Whether the hypocrisy of what you were saying ever dawns on you, who is to know.”

Additionally, the offender was charged with attempting to interfere with legal proceedings as he, in the second instance, called the woman 31 times and demanded she speak to her mother and they go to her lawyer’s office to get charges dropped, the document outlined.

Judge Farr said the man’s criminal history dated back to 2011 and included drugs, property and violence offences.

“You have a history of violent conduct towards women,” His Honour said.

“ … You were making threats to the complainant in this matter of physical violence and I infer that she is well aware that you are someone that is prepared to carry out threats of violence against women because you have demonstrated such grotesque and cowardly behaviour many times in the past.”

He also acknowledged as outlined in the documents that the man had only been out of jail for four months since May 2022 and spent 505 days in pre-sentence custody between September 27, 2023 and February 12, 2025.

Judge Farr said the more the man ignores court orders such as the domestic violence order he breached, the more time he will spend in custody.

“The sooner you grow up and work it out for yourself and do something about it, the better for all concerned, including yourself,” he said.

The man pleaded guilty to contravening a domestic violence order and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was sentenced to two years and six months jail and granted immediate parole as His Honour declared the 505 days spent in pre-sentence custody as time already served.

Originally published as Man sentenced in Townsville District Court for ‘grotesque and cowardly’ 643 phone calls from jail