"Give me my kids, or I will ruin your life."
This is one of 290 messages a stalker sent his ex-wife in one day after she obtained a family violence order to protect herself and their children from the man.
He sent a total of almost 600 messages over a five-month period, and threatened to show a video of himself and the woman having sex to a magistrate.
"You told me that no one would stand in your way; not my lawyer, not police and not the courts," the woman said in a victim impact statement.
On Wednesday, magistrate Ian Temby sentenced the stalker to time behind bars to be suspended upon him entering into a good behaviour order for 24 months.
The sentence was backdated to take 81 days spent in custody into account.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to multiple charges including two counts of stalking, and one count of threatening to distribute intimate images.
Sentencing remarks published on Wednesday state that in May 2022, the man's ex-wife obtained a family violence order preventing him contacting her or their children.
Despite this, over the next few months he sent 250 messages including requests to reunite, and to assist him with housing.
He also sent a further 341 messages which included declarations of love and sharing music videos.
Four messages sent on September 5, 2022, were lengthy, almost 3000 words, in which he "wrote out his life story".
The man bombarded his ex-wife with a total of 290 messages over a singular day on October 11, 2022.
"[He] threatened to crush anyone who stood between him and his objectives in family law proceedings between the parties, including the complainant's family lawyer," the remarks state.
The man even threatened his ex-wife's lawyer, who was representing her in family court, saying: "I will f--- [the lawyer] in her fat, crackhead, blonde butt hole."
He also threatened to share a video of himself and his ex-wife having sex.
"You tell the cops and I'll show them everything," the man said.
In May 2023, the man was charged for the crimes and granted bail with conditions not to contact the victims.
The same afternoon he was released, the man sent a text message to his ex, who went to bed and cried feeling she would never escape him.
In an impact statement to the court, the woman stated: "Your words made it clear that you were attempting to bend me to your will, and when I didn't you made it clear that you would make me break and anyone who stood in your way would be broken along with me."
"If I was not already scared and isolated in those moments, you made me feel like I could not reach out to anyone for the fear that I would be the cause that you would hurt them too."
On Wednesday, Mr Temby found that while the man had mental health issues, and an alcohol and marijuana use disorder, they were not major contributing factors.
The stalker had told a report author he intended to start a career in the production of medicinal marijuana.
"In my view, part of the defendant's offending can be explained by the simple fact that he did not care that he was prohibited ... from contacting [his family] in the way that he did, and did not care that [his ex] asked him multiple times to stop contacting her," Mr Temby stated.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
