Hobart magistrate Michael Daly hears closing arguments in stalking case

UPDATED: A magistrate has described a stalking and harassment trial as “a strange case”, with the alleged stalker labelled an “insecure man” and the defence describing the alleged victim as a “mastermind”.

The stallking case is being heard at Hobart Magistrates Court.

UPDATED: ACCORDING to police, Kyle Niam Dawson was a lonely man who took a shining to an attractive woman and started harassing her. On the defence case, Mr Dawson was the victim of a “mastermind” who set him up to be charged.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Daly on Monday heard closing arguments in what he described as “such a strange case”.

Mr Dawson, 32, of Oatlands, previously pleaded not guilty in the Hobart Magistrates Court to stalking and using a carriage service to threaten serious harm, to harass another person and to cause offence to another person.

Mr Dawson’s lawyer Brittany Clark said while her client contacted the alleged victim 950 times by phone between June and October 2017, the woman contacted Mr Dawson 1390 times, including 968 occasions between September 22 and October 28.

Ms Clark said those 968 occasions resulted in 40 hours of phone calls.

“It’s completely unbelievable that the person who’s being stalked would have initiated that degree of contact with their alleged stalker,” she said.

The court heard the woman, who lives interstate and cannot be named for legal reasons, was the subject of a segment on Channel 9 program A Current Affair in early 2017 about a stalking and indecent assault she was the victim of. The perpetrator was convicted in 2016.

Ms Clark said the woman wanted to get a second interview with A Current Affair and asked Mr Dawson to help her get the program’s attention by sending her videos and messages pretending to be the man convicted of the crimes against her, and messages from himself to “prove” she had a new stalker.

“He wanted to help his friend and he wasn’t thinking in the way he ought to have,” Ms Clark said.

“In reality [the woman] is a mastermind. She has set Mr Dawson up for this charge.”

Ms Clark said the woman ordered Mr Dawson to delete Facebook and other messages between the two that would have helped prove Mr Dawson’s case.

Prosecutor Melanie Baker said that at the time of the alleged offending, Mr Dawson had separated from his partner and was lonely.

“He was an insecure man … he took a shining to an attractive woman,” Ms Baker said.

She said Mr Dawson’s explanation was “a contrived, self-serving version”.

Ms Baker said the messages in Mr Dawson’s own name were admissions of guilt and remorse, not messages he had been asked to send.

She said there was no physical evidence to suggest the woman was not a credible witness, and Mr Dawson had no evidence to support his explanation.

Ms Baker said the woman maintained contact with Mr Dawson because she was worried he would disclose her address — which he said he did not know — to the man convicted in 2016 with assaulting and stalking her.

Mr Daly said he had not seen such a situation before.

“I’ve not ever come across the victim of a harassment maintaining contact with their harasser to try to keep the peace,” he said.

Mr Daly adjourned the case until August when he will hand down his decision.

EARLIER: THE alleged victim of a stalker has been described in court as a “mastermind” who set up the man accused of pursing her.

Kyle Niam Dawson, 32, of Oatlands, has pleaded not guilty to stalking and using a carriage service to threaten serious harm, to harass another person and to cause offence to another person.

Mr Dawson has told the Hobart Magistrates Court he was vulnerable and “susceptible to being manipulated” when a woman asked him in 2017 to help create “evidence” to prove to a television program that she was being stalked.

Mr Dawson’s lawyer Brittany Clark said the woman, who lives interstate and cannot be named for legal reasons, was a dishonest witness.

Ms Clark said while the woman wanted Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Daly to believe she was vulnerable and a victim of the alleged crimes, that was not the reality of the situation.

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“In reality she is a mastermind. She has set Mr Dawson up for this charge and that’s something that is incredibly uncomfortable to absorb and take in but it’s the reality here,” she said.

Ms Clark said the woman ordered Mr Dawson to delete Facebook and other messages between the two that would have helped prove Mr Dawson’s case.

But she said the telephone records that were available were not consistent with Mr Dawson stalking the woman.

Ms Clark said that between September 22 and October 28, 2017, the woman telephoned Mr Dawson 968 times from her phone, resulting in 40 hours of calls.

“It is completely inconceivable that [the woman] would be calling someone who is threatening her and stalking her with that frequency,” she said.

The court has also heard the woman said she remained in contact with Mr Dawson because she was worried that if she didn’t, Mr Dawson would give her address to a man convicted of indecently assaulting and stalking her.

Ms Clark said Mr Dawson did not know the woman’s address, and the woman had told a police officer that Mr Dawson did not have her address.

Closing arguments continue before Mr Daly this afternoon.