Dunedin builder Matthew Charles Thomson, 42, appeared in the Dunedin District Court last week, where he was sentenced to 40 hours’ community work after pleading guilty to two charges of breaching a protection order.
Judge Emma Parsons said it was ‘‘harassing-type behaviour’’ but assessed it as ‘‘low level’’.
Thomson’s ex-partner Clare (not her real name) said she was devastated by the outcome and had recently contacted MPs seeking support for a change in the law to create harsher punishments for such crimes.
‘‘I just can’t believe the trauma and the anxiety and the stress and the sleepless nights and the watching over my shoulder, knowing that he’s watching me, can be called ‘low level’,’’ she told the Otago Daily Times.
‘‘He’s going to plant a few trees for 40 hours and pick up a bit of rubbish or whatever, and then he’s going to go on with his life. Whereas I’m still going to be in therapy.’’
Clare and Thomson separated in February last year and while things were initially amicable, within weeks the abusive messages began.
‘‘It was chaos,’’ she said.
‘‘He was antagonising me about the kids. He was threatening me.’’
By April, Clare had a protection order, which meant Thomson could only have contact with her consent.
She told the ODT someone began driving past her home, sounding their horn late at night; she would return to her vehicle after work to find the windscreen wipers raised.
‘‘It was mentally exhausting,’’ Clare said.
The first breach of the order came on May 13 last year, when Thomson drove to the workplace of the victim’s brother and watched him for 20 seconds.
The same day he travelled to his ex-partner’s home, which was under construction, drove back and forth repeatedly over several hours and confronted the workers who were on site.
They informed Clare of the episode and she went to the address to find Thomson parked a few blocks away, in view of the house.
One of the builders had to escort her away, such was her fear.
Ten days later, upon returning to the carpark after shopping at Bunnings, she found her wipers had been raised again.
When police reviewed CCTV, they saw Thomson, dressed in an orange hi-vis shirt, stop his silver van beside her vehicle and tamper with the windscreen before driving off.
The defendant had no previous similar convictions, the court heard at last week’s sentencing.
Judge Parsons noted the incidents had come shortly after the couple’s separation when emotions were likely running high.
Clare acknowledged there were other women worse off than her, but said she wanted to outline the toll the experience had taken.
‘‘Every time I see a bloody silver van driving around, my eyes even now go directly to that number plate going: ‘Is that him? What’s he going to do next? Where is he going to show up?’
‘‘I find it really, really problematic, the fact that had he hit me and been physically violent, it would have been treated far differently than the psychological intimidation that he’s put me through. Wounds heal, but that anxiety of being watched all the time, you know, that stays with you for a long time.’’
Last year, Thomson was convicted of three charges of altering a document with intent to defraud after ripping off an Auckland appliance store for nearly $20,000.
He was sentenced to 200 hours’ community work for those crimes and his most recent penalty will be added to the total.
