Joe Gatti sentenced for stalking ex-girlfriend with abusive Facebook posts

“Our romance was like Romeo and Juliet and you know how that sh-t ended”: A South Burnett man in jail for tearing off a man’s bottom lip with his teeth has been sentenced for stalking his ex-girlfriend while on bail.

A man jailed for tearing off a man’s lip with his teeth has been sentenced for stalking his ex-girlfriend for months following the brutal biting attack.

Joe Gatti brutally bit his ex’s new boyfriend on the face after chasing the pair down on foot, ripping a chunk of flesh from his love rival’s face.

Police prosecutor Lisa Mann said his ex-girlfriend later reported multiple posts on Gatti’s Facebook page, which she believed targeted her directly.

Sergeant Mann told the Kingaroy Magistrates Court one post read “our romance was like Romeo and Juliet and you know how that sh-t ended”, which frightened the victim as she believed it was a suggestion about the famous lovers dying.

The woman had told police Gatti had made similar comparisons to Romeo and Juliet in the past, believing the two of them were total opposites and her mother didn’t approve of him, the prosecutor said.

Joe Gatti was sentenced to prison for attacking a man and biting off his lip in Blackbutt.

In another instance, the 36-year-old accused the victim of having a sexually transmitted infection, posting to Facebook “I wonder if (a man’s name) likes (the victim’s) sick herpes”.

Other posts read:

“I still love you. You backed me into this corner. Find me a way out.”

“Drop the bulls —t charges. Only came around so you would leave me alone. You know exactly what I was doing. I could have dropped around any time. I missed you too much. It’s either leave me alone or find time for me as a friend.

“F —k you (victim). Appreciate the way you treated me.”

Sergeant Mann said while the victim doesn’t have Gatti on her Facebook, she told police she checked his page for her own safety.

Gatti is currently in jail following a horrific attack on New Year’s Eve, 2020, where he chased a different ex’s new partner down a Blackbutt street before tearing off his bottom lip with his teeth.

The victim was left with a serious disfigurement and mental health issues following the vicious attack.

Surgeons were able to close the wound, but the “chunk of flesh” bitten off the man’s face was not found by his partner until the next day.

Gatti later took to Facebook to mock the assault by writing, “heaps of people thought he must have tried to kiss me” with a laughing face emoji.

Judge David Kent sentenced Gatti to three years in jail during November’s District Court sitting, with a parole eligibility date set for August 12 this year.

Appearing in Murgon Magistrates Court via videolink this week, the 36-year-old Blackbutt man pleaded guilty to unlawful stalking between May 13 and June 20, 2021.

Lawyer Dean Mayr said his client was not seeking the victim out directly, but rather posting to his personal Facebook page.

Gatti was placed on probation for 18 months.

Originally published as Joe Gatti sentenced for stalking ex-girlfriend with abusive Facebook posts