Shepparton Magistrates’ Court: Joel Cox guilty of using a carriage service to menace

A drunken Bendigo forklift driver threatened to kill a man after he was ignored in the carpark of a popular hardware store.

A boozed-up former forklift operator told a man he would “f---ing kill” him all because he ignored him in a Shepparton car park.

Joel Cox pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to menace at the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The 36-year-old Bendigo man was at hardware store WB Hunter where he saw a man with a woman he knew about 11am on April 22 this year, in a court document read out by prosecutor Senior Constable Luke Lund.

The pair left the car park not wanting to encounter Cox, who texted a laughing emoji to the man about 3pm.

Cox then called the man to — who ignored and blocked Cox, who then screenshotted the man’s Facebook profile and shared it to Facebook, the court heard.

Bendigo man Joel Cox fronted the Shepparton Magistrates' Court on Friday (August 4, 2023).

Later on, the man was called by Cox on a private number.

“I will f---ing kill you you dog, why did you take off when you saw me,” Cox said to the man over the phone.

“When I see you or anybody else sees you, you’re f---ed, you will not be walking.”

When the man tried to respond to Cox, Cox hung up.

The man reported the threats to the Shepparton police station about 7.15pm.

Cox called the man again on a private number about 10pm and told him he knew his details and was on his way to his home.

However, police arrived at Cox’s home about 11.35am and arrested him, the court was told.

Cox was going to be interviewed but was found too intoxicated and was placed in a holding cell.

Cox later denied the allegations of making a threat to kill, but admitted to police he called the man several times and admitted telling him he would “not be walking”.

The court heard Cox knew the woman — who was with the man at WB Hunter — for five years.

Cox had also been previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, was recently assaulted which left him with a small brain bleed and was drunk on Jack Daniel’s during his offending.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski said Cox knew he was “making a fool of himself”.

“It’s really, really nasty behaviour,” Mr Zebrowski said.

“If this is the way alcohol causes you to behave …”

“This is actually very serious, you think it’s OK to have grog and call up people and abuse them”

Cox was convicted and fined $1000.

Mr Zebrowski encouraged Cox to continue seeing counselling services in Bendigo.