The deputy mayor of the Launceston City Council has had a harassment complaint by his former partner dismissed in court.
Alderman Robert Ian Soward, 48, faced the Launceston Magistrate's Court this morning and pleaded guilty to one charge of using a carriage service to harass another person.
The court heard Soward had admitted that shortly after the pair fell out in May last year, he began using her details to sign her up to about 80 surgical and health services, the majority of which were related to weight loss.
The actions led to the complainant receiving about 100 unwanted communications and left her feeling scared and unsafe, the court heard.
Defence counsel Tim Ellis SC said his client had always expressed "regret and remorse", and that he did not believe his former girlfriend, who he had known for 20 years, would become frightened.
This afternoon, Magistrate Simon Brown described the offending as offending as a "silly lapse," and "out of character" for Alderman Soward, and accepted the ordeal had done damage to his standing in the community.
Magistrate Brown added that the offence was "very much at the lower end of the scale," choosing not to record a conviction.
He ordered Alderman Soward to pay costs of $65.10.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said the council "now consider this to be a private matter for Alderman Soward," and that the ordeal had "been an extremely regrettable situation for everyone involved."
