Bullied man charged after revenge plot against boss backfires

A Brisbane man bullied out of his job is now facing criminal charges after he sought revenge on his former boss.

Todd Robert Warland outside Brisbane Magistrates Court. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/Glenn Campbell

A Brisbane man bullied out of his job sought revenge by leaving abusive voicemail messages for his former boss, calling him a “gutless coward” and a “waste of oxygen”.

But the move backfired when the messages were handed over to police who slapped him with criminal charges.

Todd Robert Warland, 44, faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

The court heard after quitting his job of eight months due to alleged bullying by his colleagues and manager, Warland went on to leave a series of abusive messages on the business phone on February 23 and 26 this year.

“On the first offence date he’s contacted the victim’s workplace and left a voicemail saying: ‘I have a message for (the victim) he’s a bully and nothing seems to be done about it so I’ve come up with the best medicine, I’m going to send (him) to a place in Morocco in the desert where he will join the French Legion and he will be punished badly’,” police prosecutor Senior Constable Matthew Colclough said.

“He went on to talk about how bad the victim is.

“The second offence is three voicemails with similar conduct, calling the victim a bully, a gutless coward, the lowest of the low and a waste of oxygen.”

The victim provided the recordings to police who subsequently charged Warland.

Defence lawyer Nicholas Hanley said the 44-year-old Windsor man suffered from anxiety and depression.

“He says that he worked for the company for eight months, during that time he was doing labour tasks and it became obvious to him that his co-workers and manager could see that he had a fragile mental health state and he became the butt of their jokes,” Mr Hanley said.

As a result of the bullying, he quit his job last year.

“At the beginning of this year he had what he describes as a flashback and he made these phone calls,” Mr Hanley said.

“He described the phone calls and the reference to the French Legion as a result of his keen interest in modern history and the fact the French Legion was a place of hardship and he wanted his ex-employer to experience the hardship like he had.

“He understands it would have been distressing.”

Magistrate Penelope Hay said Warland came before the court with limited criminal history, had entered an early plea and fully co-operated with police.

“I accept that you experienced bullying in the workplace and that this conduct is connected to that,” Magistrates Hay said.

“That of course as you have accepted through your plea of guilty is no excuse but does provide a background explanation and you have experienced your own punishment and hardship as a consequence of your experiences in that workplace.”

He was sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour order and no conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Bullied man charged after revenge plot against boss backfires