After breaking up with his partner and learning she had a new boyfriend, a Dunedin man warned her “karma is going to hit you so hard”.
The 59-year-old appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and was sentenced to nine months’ supervision and 80 hours’ community work on a charge under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
Judge David Robinson granted the victim name suppression because it was “not unreasonable to think she would suffer undue hardship”, meaning the defendant’s name could not be published.
He left the long-term relationship in July, while their children remained with the woman.
Weeks later, a stream of online abuse began.
First, the defendant questioned the woman’s choice of new partner, accusing the man of being a paedophile, and then told her their children would be uplifted.
The messages became increasingly heated.
The defendant asked what would happen “if a random stranger runs up out of the blue and slices up your face”.
“Laugh all you want karma is going to hit you so hard, ” he sent through a messaging app.
The defendant also made thinly veiled threats about the woman’s new partner.
“Your ... loverboy might have a serious accident or maybe die a slow agonising death maybe?’’
Judge Robinson noted the defendant had last appeared in court in 2014 and was working hard on his rehabilitation.
The man was part of the Moana House after-care programme, was attending Narcotics Anonymous and had done a Stopping Violence course.
However, the crime was serious, the judge said.
“It impressed me as controlling and, frankly, threatening.
“While missing the children gives some context, it can’t excuse or condone what you did. The reality is you realise that now.”
