Man pleads guilty in Maryborough Magistrates Court to contravening protection order

A former prison guard called his former partner a b***h, as well as calling her “evil and manipulative”, in a series of shocking messages.

The man pleaded guilty to breaking a bail condition, failing to report to police as required and contravening a protection order when he faced Maryborough Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

A former prison officer who called his former partner a “b***h” and a “psycho” in a series of messages has faced court in Maryborough.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to breaking a bail condition, failing to report to police as required and contravening a protection order when he faced Maryborough Magistrates Court via videolink on Wednesday.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Balam Selvadurai said in relation to the contravention of the temporary protection order, the man had a condition to be of good behaviour to the victim.

The man had sent text messages to her mobile phone, calling her a b***h and a “psycho”, Sgt Selvadurai said.

He then told her she was “evil and manipulative”, Sgt Selvadurai said, before questioning her about her new partner.

In relation to the breach of bail condition, the man was not allowed to contact the victim at all.

On March 11 he sent the woman 169 text messages, Sgt Selvadurai, along with a message through the Messenger app.

Police had gone to the man’s address after receiving advice from the man’s electronic monitoring device saying that there might be a tamper alert.

Police inspected the man’s mobile phone and saw the messages, the court heard.

The court heard the man had failed to comply with reporting conditions for higher court matters.

Defence lawyer Morgan Harris said the man had spent almost a day and a half in custody.

He said the man had a limited criminal history.

Mr Harris said the man was currently unemployed but had previously been employed as a prison guard.

He said the messages largely related to children the man and his victim shared.

Mr Harris said the messages were in the vein of attempting to work on the relationship for the children and having more visitation with the children.

Maryborough Courthouse. Photo: Valerie Horton/ Fraser Coast Chronicle.

When that didn’t come to fruition, the man “lashed out” at the woman, Mr Harris said.

Magistrate John Milburn told the man he “acted in a most disrespectful manner” towards the woman.

“This is not your first offence of this nature,” he said.

Mr Milburn said while the man was not a recidivist offender, he was demonstrating a pattern which was of concern.

He said the most concerning matter was the man’s “persistent and flagrant” breaching of his bail conditions by contacting the woman himself rather than through his lawyers.

“You took it upon yourself to embark upon a campaign that was controlling in some ways in nature by the number of communications, further exacerbating the matter and compounding the breach.”

That could have resulted in more than 160 charges, Mr Milburn said, but the police had included the matter in one charge.

The man was sentenced to one month in prison, wholly suspended for six months.

He was also fined $1500.

Convictions were recorded.

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Originally published as Man pleads guilty in Maryborough Magistrates Court to contravening protection order