Sending a single love-heart emoji to his ex-partner the day after his release from prison has cost a Dunedin man a year in jail.
Andrew David McMillan (31) had been jailed for threatening to kill the woman and throwing a beer bottle through her caravan window.
On that occasion, the court granted a protection order in her favour, barring the defendant from contact.
When McMillan was released from Otago Corrections Facility on August 9, it took him a matter of hours to breach the order.
At 1pm on August 10, he sent the victim a love heart via the Facebook Messenger app.
While McMillan told police the emoji was an "accidental reply'' to an old online conversation, his conduct over the next couple of days was harder to explain.
The defendant sent messages to the victim's current boyfriend and half a dozen others, including the woman's ex-husband.
In them he wrote about how badly he had been treated and included derogatory comments about the victim, referring to her as a "slut''.
On August 13, McMillan got in touch with someone the woman used to babysit for, claiming "crazy people'' were coming after her.
Worried for the victim's safety, the recipient of the online messages got in touch with her.
"All of the people contacted by the defendant have informed the victim and this has caused her to be scared of his actions and motives,'' a police summary said.
"The victim feels constantly anxious, scared and weak and feels that the defendant is playing with her mind.''
Counsel John Westgate said "at best it was naive'' that his client thought the messages would not find their way back to the protected person.
Judge John Macdonald was bemused by McMillan's behaviour, coming so soon after release.
"Is he fixated with her?'' he asked.
"He says not,'' Mr Westgate said.
The judge noted McMillan had a lengthy criminal history featuring five convictions for threatening to kill, eight for assault and two for breaching protection orders, among others.
The defendant was jailed for 12 months.
"I just hope you come to grips with what a protection order means or you'll be back in the same place again,'' Judge Macdonald said.
