32-year-old man stalked different people over a two-year period

The court heard of the horror the Toowoomba man put the victim through during his reign of stalking, and now he is set to be released back into the community.

A 32-year-old man’s obsessive behaviour led him to stalking his ex-girlfriend and others had had a significant impact on a number of different people, a Toowoomba court has heard.

The man, who is not named so as to protect the identity of his victims, had stalked his ex-girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, a woman friend of hers, and a rival business owner at various times over a two-year period, Toowoomba District Court heard.

The first complainant had been in a relationship with the man who during an argument in January 2019 strangled her for a short time, punched her in the face leaving her with a fractured nose and when she ran away from him he followed, grabbed her and threw her to the ground and bit her bottom lip, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.

He had then used another person’s phone to send a series of threatening messages to the woman who complained to him about being stalked by someone though she didn’t realise it was her ex-boyfriend at the time.

He had also stalked the woman’s new boyfriend through intimidating messages and at one point sent him an intimate photograph of him with the woman taken when they were together, Ms Petrie said.

The other victim was a man who had started a business similar to the man’s and spread gossip about the victim in an attempt to ruin his reputation, the court heard.

The defendant was eventually arrested and spent 17 months in pre-sentence custody before pleading guilty to strangulation in a domestic setting, assault occasioning bodily harm and five counts of stalking.

Judge Vicki Loury noted the defendant had a history of mental health issues and that he had spent 513 days in custody which she would not declare as time served but would instead reduce the head sentence.

Defence barrister Isaac Munsie conceded his client would need supervision when released from prison.

Judge Loury said ordinarily a sentence of four and a half years would be warranted but given the man had already spent 17 months in custody she reduced the sentence to three years in jail but ordered he be released on parole on Wednesday this week.

Judge Loury issued five-year restraining orders on the man preventing him from approaching or contacting any of the three victims and extended the domestic violence order to February 2029.