Toowoomba man was already in jail when he sent threatening and abusive messages to his partner

Being in jail didn’t stop a Toowoomba man from intimidating his partner with abusive phone calls in breach of a protection order.

A Toowoomba man held in custody on remand for domestic violence order charges had contacted his aggrieved partner by phone, leaving a plethora of abusive and threatening messages, from inside the prison.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reason, had a history of violence and domestic violence offences and had in recent years been jailed for three months for making 131 calls to the same aggrieved woman, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

While being held in custody on remand in Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in June 2023, the man had made a number of calls and messages sent to the woman, some of which involved calling her derogatory terms, accusing her of infidelity and threats to have her harmed by “people I know”, police prosecutor Rohan Brewster-Webb told the court.

Those messages contained the word “f--k” or derivatives of that word some 118 times and the word “c--t” 52 times, he said.

The 31-year-old had contacted his partner with abusive and threatening calls from inside Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, the court heard.

The court heard though there was no definitive evidence, it appeared the man had allegedly given a false name of his partner to prison authorities in order to maintain contact with her.

Mr Brewster-Webb told the court the man had a full-time release date on a previous sentence of May 10 this year and these offences for which he was being sentenced predated that sentence of October 2023.

The man appeared via video link from Borallon Correctional Centre to plead guilty to 11 counts of breaching a protection order.

His solicitor Alysha Jacobsen, of Bouchier Khan Lawyers, told the court her client had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, temperament displacement order and as a result had learning and memory problems.

Due to his conditions her client could be short tempered and didn’t appreciate the seriousness of his behaviour at the time but later he was remorseful, she said.

Toowoomba Courthouse in Hume St, Toowoomba City.

The man had now been granted an NDIS package through which he would source psychiatric help, Ms Jacobsen said.

Acting magistrate Rowan Silva noted the messages sent were “extremely abusive” but he took into account the man’s mental health issues and the sentence he was already serving.

Declaring 84 days of pre-sentence custody as time served, Mr Silva sentenced the man to six months in jail, to be served concurrently with his current sentence, and ordered he be released on parole immediately.

However, Mr Silva told the man it would be up to the parole board when he was released on the other sentence.