Robin Geoffrey Beattie (68) was charged for his sex crime in 2011 and sentenced to 300 hours’ community work.
The two had no contact for at least nine years, until January 2 when Beattie messaged her through Facebook, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
He told Judge Michael Turner he thought the protection order had expired.
"How is it after [nine] years the victim’s name popped up on Facebook," Judge Turner said.
"I don’t know a lot about Facebook, but it seems to me that those names pop up because you have them in your computer or phone as a contact."
The victim was friends with a neighbour of his on the site, Beattie explained.
"The only reason I contacted her was because she came up on my Facebook page," he said.
Court documents revealed in the eight messages he sent over four days, he asked for her number, asked if she wanted to keep in contact, and made a comment referring to her "current body size being better".
She asked him to stop messaging her.
"The victim said you’ve re-traumatised her, because the sorts of things you’ve said about how she looks is the same you said [11] years ago," the judge said.
The offending had a "significant impact, emotionally and psychologically on her".
Since he had not contacted her in such a long time, Judge Turner said there was some credence to it being a spontaneous act.
On one charge of breaching the protection order, Beattie’s sentence was deferred for 12 months, and he was ordered to pay emotional harm reparation of $500.
Judge Turner asked the defendant if he had told his wife.
Beattie acknowledged the news of his crime had upset her.
