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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Blake Foden

'Relentless' prisoner threatened to cut ex's tongue out, bury her alive

A family violence order barely registered with a Canberra man hellbent on terrorising his former partner.

Bail conditions did nothing, either.

Being remanded in custody did not even deter him.

And while the threats did eventually stop, the 39-year-old says he would not change a thing.

The man paid the price in the ACT Magistrates Court earlier this week, when magistrate Louise Taylor sentenced him to three years and four months in jail.

Ms Taylor ordered the offender, who is not being named to protect the identity of his victims, to serve two years and two months of that term in full-time custody.

She said he had committed 24 "appalling" crimes, which were "almost entirely family violence-related".

The charges included two counts of intentionally threatening to kill and 10 counts of using a carriage service to make threats of varying severity.

There were also two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, nine counts of contravening a family violence order, and one charge of unauthorised possession or use of a prohibited weapon.

The offending began in January 2021, following the breakdown of the man's 12-year relationship with his former partner.

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Initially, the offender threatened Child and Youth Protection Services case workers after seeing a photo of his daughter at the coast.

Ms Taylor said the man had told the workers: "I'm sick of this. I'm just going to find them and f---ing bash my wife."

Police seized the offender's phone upon arresting him over this, finding he had been incessantly calling and texting his former partner in defiance of a family violence order that had been served the previous month.

The man was granted bail following this, only to continue what Ms Taylor called a "relentless" pursuit of his ex.

In February last year, he texted a police officer and warned "you might need to arrest me before I do something that will be beyond my control".

"I'll make sure I won't go to jail and court ... I hope it will make headline news," the message read.

He followed this up by texting his "terrified" former partner 95 times in one day, threatening in part to kill the woman in front of their children.

The man also contacted his father and threatened to kill him, his mother and his former partner.

When police went to the home the man had been staying at, he emerged with "a large, hunting-style knife".

He pointed this weapon at police in a threatening manner, asking them to shoot and Taser him.

After he was Tasered, the knife had to be forcibly removed from his hand as he fought with four officers.

The man was refused bail as a result of this, but not even being behind bars in the Alexander Maconochie Centre stopped his crusade.

He took to emailing death threats from jail, referring to his former partner as an "animal".

The man said he would "personally barbecue" people and warned that "even their lord cannot stop me".

"That [father's name], I will beat him up; that [mother's name], I will trample on her; that [former partner's name], I will bury her alive and cut off her tongue," he wrote in an April 2021 email.

The threats, described by Ms Taylor as "deliberate, persistent [and] repeated", finally stopped last May.

Ms Taylor said the offender had shown a "bold willingness" to defy lawful orders and make his former partner feel as though nothing could keep her safe.

"It's behaviour that has no place in our homes, no place in our families, and no place in our community," she said.

The magistrate expressed concern that the man had "fairly bleak" prospects for rehabilitation, having told a pre-sentence report author he would not change what he had done if he was faced the same situations again.

With the man's sentence backdated to begin in February 2021, when he first went into custody, his jail term will not end until June 2024.

He will be released on a $1000 recognisance, however, in April 2023.

The Alexander Maconochie Centre, where the man continued to commit crimes after being remanded in custody. Picture: Karleen Minney
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