North Queensland man Daniel Ernest Morelli jailed after disturbing stalking and meth trafficking

A man hid in a woman’s home, beat her with a bat and had other people stalk her after she declined his offer to go on a date.

North Queensland man Daniel Ernest Morelli jailed after disturbing stalking and meth trafficking. Picture: generic

An obsessed man, rejected after asking a woman on a date proceeded to stalk her by hiding in their home and having other people monitor their activity for him.

Drug dealer and stalker, Daniel Ernest Morelli was arrested after a police dog found him hiding under a water pipe on the Bruce Highway following a shocking attack on a woman he had been stalking for several months.

Townsville Supreme Court documents outlined Justice Tom Sullivan’s sentence who said the 37-year-old had asked a woman he was friends with on a date and she declined.

The pair then lived together for a short while and had been intimate according to His Honour – however when she asked him to move out he became angry.

Morelli would show up at the woman’s house unannounced yelling at her, he hid in the bottom part of her home while she was upstairs, knocked on the walls of her house, stole and damaged items, turned the power off, slashed her tyres and had others monitor her “comings and goings”.

Additionally he sent threatening messages to her which included, “I will kill you...”, according to the court document.

In December 2022 Morelli’s stalking intensified when he showed up at her house, stole her handbag before taking off, but returned 15 minutes later armed with a knife.

The woman had locked the doors so he broke the bathroom glass window, climbed through it and while doing so the woman walked in and he dropped the knife.

Justice Sullivan said the woman grabbed the weapon and ran to the neighbour’s house.

The following day Morelli attended the home again and grabbed a knife from the kitchen, the woman tried to lock herself in a bedroom however Morelli pushed through the door and grabbed a bat and hit her over the head and arm.

He stole items from the woman’s home, turned the power off and ran away before being found by police hours later.

A search of Morelli’s home was conducted after his arrest where police uncovered a drug trafficking operation.

Police analysed his Facebook Messenger messages and found he had supplied marijuana five times and supplied meth six times.

He had been “operating a street-level trafficking” enterprise across Townsville by supplying meth to 20 different people regularly over a two month, 16 day period which varied from one gram of meth to a ball (three grams).

“You did use an encrypted feature on Facebook Messenger as well as the disappearing messages feature which has the default of setting messages to delete 30 seconds after being read by the recipient,” His Honour noted.

“You engaged in the business for a commercial purpose, but also for the purpose of fuelling your own addiction.”

The judge said that despite Morelli being unemployed and receiving welfare benefits, there were photos on his phone of bundles of $50 notes, packaged meth and jewellery.

“Other methods of payments were accepted. These included things such as car rides and sexual favours,” His Honour explained.

While handing down a sentence, Justice Sullivan noted the man had been employed at different stages of his life, and acknowledged he had clearly been “drug dependent” when he committed the offences.

“I acknowledge that this is your first period of incarceration but it is very serious offending,” His Honour said.

“Your counsel has eloquently put forward that you have sought to take steps to rehabilitate yourself from drug use while you have been in incarceration.”

Morelli pleaded guilty to 22 charges which included stalking with violence, drug trafficking and supplying, burglary by break while armed, stealing and possession of drugs.

He was sentenced to seven years jail and given a parole eligibility date of April 23 as the 648 days he spent in pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.

Originally published as North Queensland man Daniel Ernest Morelli jailed after disturbing stalking and meth trafficking