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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Blake Foden

'I just miss me life': Man who sent revenge porn complains about jail

A man locked up for sending revenge porn to his partner's brother has lamented life behind bars, telling a judge he has "had enough" of jail after being there "all friggin' year".

"I just miss me life," the 35-year-old landscaper, who cannot be named in order to protect his victim's identity, told the ACT Supreme Court during a bail application on Friday.

The court heard he had pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including non-consensual distribution of intimate images and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

His partner was the victim of those offences and several family violence order breaches.

The man has been behind bars on remand since March, when court documents show his partner's brother rang police to complain that the 35-year-old had "smashed up" a house.

When police arrived at the address, in suburban Gungahlin, they found the man's partner bleeding, glass all over the floor and two smashed televisions.

They also discovered the offender, who was on bail at the time, had sent his partner's underage brother a picture of the woman performing a sex act on him.

An interview with the offender's partner revealed the blood coming from her nose was the result of the 35-year-old having hit her in the face before smashing up the house.

The woman also told police the offender had threatened to send her father an image of her performing a sexual act.

Police arrested the offender in suburban Belconnen later the same morning, when he ran away and jumped over two fences before eventually being apprehended.

On Friday, the offender's lawyer, Zac McBride, asked Chief Justice Lucy McCallum to review a decision magistrate Glenn Theakston had made to refuse the man bail.

Mr McBride said the man wanted to do residential drug rehabilitation, but could not be assessed for the program he hoped to complete as long as he remained in custody.

The lawyer said drugs had been the root cause of all the 35-year-old's criminal behaviours.

"What other way is there for [him] to address these issues other than by attending rehabilitation?" Mr McBride asked.

When Mr McBride called his client to give evidence, the man told the court being in jail for the past nine months had been "the biggest wake-up call I've ever had in me life".

The man said he was "stuck in a pothole" behind bars, where he had abstained from drugs despite the Alexander Maconochie Centre being "flooded" with them.

He expressed a desire to "knuckle down" and regain custody of his one-year-old daughter, who had been removed from the care of her parents by child protection services.

"I'm a good dad," the man said. "It's just when I touch the drugs."

A prosecutor opposed bail by arguing the 35-year-old was likely to reoffend and endanger the safety or welfare of the victim, who was said to still be in a relationship with the man.

He said documents outlining the man's crimes showed "a fairly alarming escalation of offending", expressing particular concerns about the family violence order breaches and arguing these demonstrated the man had "an inability to comply with conditions".

Chief Justice McCallum, who expressed concerns about where the man would initially live while awaiting a Justice Housing placement, adjourned the matter until next Tuesday.

The judge indicated she wanted to hear evidence on that date from a man who was said to be willing to accommodate the offender until a Justice Housing property became available.

The ACT Supreme Court, where the revenge porn offender has applied for bail. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong
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