LAKSHMI SUNDRAM & JESSICA FREEMAN v DALE ANTHONY MICHAEL HOWLETT

25 January 2023

COMMENTS ON SENTENCE -  HARTNETT M

Mr Howlett, you pleaded guilty to stalking and bullying contrary to s.192 of the Criminal Code. I am also dealing with a number of breaches of a family violence order and a bail order, a number of counts of contravene conditions of a notice,  two counts of escape, a destroy property,  a resist a police officer and drive whilst not the holder of a drivers licence.

Your plea of guilty is a mitigating factor. It saved the victim of the stalking and family violence offending from having to come to court and give evidence of distressing events.  It saved a considerable amount of court time and resources.

For a number of months you and the victim were in a significant relationship. The relationship ended in September 2021.  Shortly after the relationship ended your offending commenced. The victim blocked your phone number and blocked you on social media. You ignored her clear wish to be left alone. You continued to contact her. On a number of occasions you sent messages to her threatening to kill yourself sometimes directly attributing responsibility for that decision to her for not communicating with you or getting back together.  On one of the occasions you threatened to jump off a cliff near her home, she called the police who found you there. Following which, you phoned and abused her.  You asked one of her friends to have her contact you or else you would kill yourself.

You sent messages to the victim claiming to be “Danielle” and inferring that a sex tape of her being publicly available. The messages were an attempt to panic the victim into contacting you fearing the release of intimate videos. It worked.  You told the victim that you would deal with “Danielle” before blaming the victim for leaking the videos. It was a calculated act of manipulation.  The victim unaware “Danielle” was you, went to the police to report Danielle’s behaviour. As she got into her car to go to police you used the spare key to lock and unlock her doors.  You kept the victim under surveillance and as she left Police you sent her an email asking what the police say.

You sent emails to the victim asking her to unblock you, made threats not to pay her or her mother the money that was owed.

On 6 October 2021 you flew a drone over her home to see if she was home. The following day you sent her flowers and a card to her workplace. You left an 8 minute audio message apologising and explaining your actions to date.

You used bank transfers to contact her. You inundated the victim with emails and calls.

On 7 October 2021 you were arrested and took part in an interview under caution. You made admissions to constantly messaging the victim who had told you to stop harassing her. You admitted to flying a drone over her home to see if she was home. You told police you were not in a good head space. You accepted that you were harassing the victim and needed to stop contacting her. You accepted you were manipulative towards her and needed to stop fixating on her.

At the conclusion of the interview you were issued with a Police Family Violence order with conditions including not to contact her or attend her workplace.

Within days of the order being put in place you breached its conditions by entering the car park of the victim’s work. The victim was at work. You were observed in the car park by a work colleague who told the victim. CCTV footage showed you walking towards and looking in her car before leaving. You also loitered outside her home.

On 20 October 2021 you sent texts to the victim threatening to release intimate photographs of her including to her workplace to “bury her career”. You sent a text message telling the victim “I’m going to wait for you in South Hobart...to look you in the eyes and tell you how you fucked my life”.

The following day you again threatened the victim with the release of intimate images. You then proceeded to send her 5 images of her posing nude, no doubt to add to her fear and intimidation that these were not hollow threats.  The victim reported your conduct to the police.

You sent further text messages to the victim including “drop my AVO or this account will go public this is blackmail it won’t be me setting it up Ill add not only friend and family by work place where you get flowers from bars restaurants doctors everything and make it fully public”. You attached to some of the messages examples of the explicit or intimate images of the victim or descriptions of them. You made reference in a message that the police did not have the power to stop you “as there was no way of stopping once it’s been sent.”  Your messages were aimed at psychologically controlling and harming the victim. In one message you told the victim “I know this will mentally fuck you good now and bring back shot from the past,... I hope this freaks you out”

You sent messages threatening to ram the side of her vehicle with your bull bar “for shits and gigs” and told her “I told you I would slowly start to rip your life apart”.

On 25 October 2021 you sent an email to the victim’s work. You stated that the victim attends work under the influence of drugs and she sells explicit content of herself on social media. You attached two explicit images of the victim to the email.

The victim reported your conduct to police. On 25 October 2021, police saw you driving in Glenorchy. You were unlicensed. You avoided police by leaving your car and running away.

An extensive police search was undertaken over two days for you. During this time you threatened self-harm and demanded that the victim meet with you when speaking to police. Mobile phone triangulation confirmed that you were within a 1 kilometre of the victim’s home for some of the time.  On 27 October 2021, police located you less than 100 m from the victim’s home, however you managed to avoid apprehension. You were intercepted by police in the taxi a short time later.

You took part in an interview under caution during which you admitted most of the conduct referred to. You admitted sending texts to the victim as mind games and out of pure anger. You said the threats to send nude images were to manipulate her and “get inside her head, to put her on edge and make her feel like shit”. You admitted that you had sent the email threatening to ram her car as a manipulative tactic.

At the conclusion of the interview you were charged and detained for court with an application for a Family violence order with electronic monitoring sought. On 29 October 2021 you appeared in court. An interim family violence order was made. You were remanded in custody.  On 3 November 2021 you were released on bail with stringent conditions. I will take into account this time in determining the appropriate sentence.

Your conduct towards the victim did not stop even in the face of charges, court appearances and bail. A number of the charges involve the same conduct, for example breaching bail orders by not complying with a family violence orders. I will take this into account and not punish you twice.

In November 2021, you contacted the victim. You were on bail and subject to a Family Violence order. You were aware the victim was in financial difficulty, you offered to assist with the financial issues she was experiencing. You apologised to her for your previous actions. Whilst motivated in some part by wanting to assist the victim, it was also a way of manipulating someone who was vulnerable. You and the victim were thereafter in regular contact which included meeting in person. You provided financial assistance in part as a mean to control and manipulate. You met the complainant in person on at least 10 occasions in public including at the Wrest Point Casino, Royal Hobart Hospital and other places.

In January 2022, you told the victim you had purchased a lethal injection kit and intended to suicide. You sent messages to her wanting to see her before you killed yourself. You told her a range of things about your health or your relationships to manipulate.

Between 27 November 2021 and 6 February 2022, you sent over 3000 messages to the victim. You left voices messages the contents of which included begging to know where she was, asking her to unblock you, that you needed her as a friend and for her to meet you.

On 6 February 2022 the victim reported your conduct to police.  You were arrested. You were interviewed again under caution. You admitted to having had contact with the victim but claimed the victim had contacted you first and she was threatening to hurt herself.

On 7 February 2022 you were remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with breaches of both your bail orders and of the Family violence order.

On 8 February 2022 whilst in custody you swallowed a number of items including parts from the electronic monitoring on body charger. You destroyed the device in the process. You were taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital for medical treatment. It was an act of self-harm.

On 11 February 2022, you were cleared medically to return to Risdon Prison. However before you could be returned, you escaped from custody by walking out of the hospital when the prison guard was distracted obtaining your prescriptions. Police were contacted. You were captured on CCTV footage running from the area.  You were at large for a number of days.

Whilst at large, you messaged the victim via email and social media messenger. Some of the messages, in the context they were sent and their content, were very menacing and a serious aspect of your offending. I will refer to some of the content.

On 13 February 2022 you sent an email to the victim which included “…just out to ruin your life …. I will make your life hell new job if you get it I'll send everything of yours to them absolutely everything I can bring back the old ……. I bailed before surgery so at any moment yes I will die from the blades cutting me open, …… but you will never know what day or anything you have no idea what car I’m in or anything so that's going to make it so much worst for you. You really fucked up I’ll see you at work today, or at training you really fucked me over now time to do the same to you”

On 14 February 2022 you sent messages via social media to the victim which included the following 'Enjoy your day you know I know exactly what you are doing I'll wait for my moment ….. I really hope you are shitting them hard I have nothing to lose I'll see you when you least expect it… This is going to be so simple you have no idea what car I drive or anything I'll wait for my moment either when you go out for tea for valentine’s day tonight or anything you will never know when I’ll be there…, maybe I’ll wait to you have a new car and paint strip it or perhaps do it with the current one you will never know I know exactly what your doing … so let's see everything around you come crushing down your PTSD your mental health all is going to be going for a ride now.. I hope you go into a PTSD panic attack…I'll see you for your dinner plans trust me this time I will make you have a panic attack…I honestly hope you sleep with one eye open..”

On 14 February 2022 police believed you may attend an address in Goulburn St. Police hid in the yard. At about 9.40pm you walked into the yard. Police placed you under arrest for escape. You resisted arrest by refusing to give police your hands and pulling away from police and thrashing about. You were aggressive. OC spray was deployed, it had little effect on you. You managed to break free and escape again.

On 15 February 2022 police located you in a shed in Austins Ferry. You were arrested and taken into custody. You went to the Tamar Unit when you returned to prison. You have been in custody since this time.

The effect your offending towards the victim is set out in her victim impact statement. It outlines the harm you have caused. The victim describes suffering a loss of confidence in her own safety and her families, feelings of worthlessness, embarrassment and anxiety, impacts on her sleep and social interactions. She described feeling in fear daily. The impact of your conduct on the victim aggravates the offence.

You have limited history before the courts. You pled guilty in 2018 to three count of breaching a police family violence order.  The person protected by the order was a woman you had been in a significant relationship with for about a year. The condition breached on each occasion was that you not contact her directly or indirectly. You did on three occasions contact her via social media. The messages were innocuous. You understood an order was in place and messaging her was a breach. You are subsequent offender for the purposes of the graduated penalty regime under the Family Violence Act.

A comprehensive plea in mitigation was made on your behalf.  I have a report form Dr Jordan, a forensic psychiatrist.  I have taken into account the matters raised by your counsel and the contents of Dr Jordan’s report in determining the appropriate sentence.

You are 27 years of age. You were born and raised in Tasmania. Your parents separated when you were young. You were raised by your father. You had no contact with your mother during your formative years, this had a significant impact on you. Although you were cognisant of its psychological impact on you.  Dr Jordan opines that you show features of a dysfunctional personality. You are sensitive to real or perceived abandonment.   This provides the psychological context for your offending.  It does not ameliorate your moral culpability.

You were prior to the offending employed and had been for a number of years.  You held a position of responsibility. Your employment came to an end at the same time as the relationship. You were drinking excessively, the effects of which were exacerbated by consumption of various medications.

Your mood was low at the time you were arrested on 7 February. Your acts that lead you to be taken to the hospital were not done with a thought of escaping. When you escaped, by walking out, you used drugs heavily and have little memory of what you did.

This is the first time you have been in custody. It has been during COVID times and the prison system has not escaped its impact. I will take both of these factors into consideration. You have been medicated with an antidepressant since your return to custody.

You have used your time in prison, where possible, towards reform and rehabilitation. You show a level of insight regarding the reasons for the offending. I accept you are genuinely motivated to reform. You have plans upon your release from custody to continue with the efforts made towards rehabilitation and to re-enter the workforce.  Dr Jordan opines that you require psychological help, ideally mandated, on release from custody to assist manage relationship terminations in a more constructive manner and to develop further insight into your psychological vulnerabilities.  I have made allowance for some moderation to specific deterrence. I will make an order allowing the opportunity for parole at the earliest opportunity for the factors in your favour.

Your offending towards the victim is serious. Your conduct towards her continued for over 5 months. Between 1 September 2021 and 15 February 2022 with the intention of causing the victim, your former partner, mental harm, fear or apprehension you pursued a course of conduct that included following her, keeping her under surveillance, loitering outside her home and work place, making threats to her, contacting her or through other people and transmitting offensive material. It was serious course of conduct. It is family violence. Your conduct requires a sentence to vindicate the victim, to punish, condemn and deter, not only you and others from acting in a similar way.

Breaching family violence orders as you did is also serious. I take into account that the breaches do not include threats or abuse or actual violence. Family violence orders are expected to be complied with, as a repeat offender you were aware of that. The orders are put in place to protect, and their authority to do that needs to be upheld by the court.

You also escaped twice. I take into account that they were not planned. There is a need for the sentence to act as a deterrent to you and others who may be minded to escape lawful custody. You resisted police who were lawfully arresting you in a rather violent manner.

I will take into account the principle of totality.

Taking into account all the circumstances you are sentenced as follows:

1. I convict but proceed to impose no further penalty on complaint 8565/21 count 6, 2558/22 – counts 1 and 211;
2. On complaint 1029/22 and the balance of complaint 2558/22 you are convicted of each count on each complaint and I impose on a global basis 24 months imprisonment backdated to the 8 February 2022 with parole eligibility after you have served one half of that sentence;
3. On complaint 1285/22 you are convicted of each count on the complaint and I impose a global sentence of 6 months imprisonment cumulative to that imposed on complaint 1029/222 and the balance of complaint 2558/222 with a parole eligibility after you have served one half of that sentence;
4. I order that complaint 1029/22 be recorded as a family violence offence.

Pursuant to s.36 of the Family Violence Act 2004 I make a Family Violence order protecting the victim.

I make an order directing that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the Community Protection Offender Register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 for a period of 7 years.

You have been sentenced to 30 months imprisonment with a non – parole period of 15 months backdated to the 8 February 2022. I impose the victims of crime levies.