16 December 2022

Father relentlessly stalked CYPS worker after kids were taken into care

| Albert McKnight
ACT Courts

A man has pleaded guilty to stalking three CYPS workers. Photo: Albert McKnight.

A father has changed his mind and admitted to stalking three Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS) workers, including relentlessly abusing one, on the day he planned to fight his charges at a hearing.

“Guilty, your honour,” he said on Thursday (15 December) when Magistrate Louise Taylor read out three counts of stalking and single counts of using a carriage service to menace, and damage property.

The man, who legally can’t be named, has been in custody since he was arrested in March 2022 and was denied bail again the next month.

According to documents previously tendered to the court, CYPS removed children from the man’s care over concerns for their welfare last year.

That December, he texted a long and abusive message to one worker, accusing her of lying in a “legal document”.

“You f-king little fat rat you make my kids suffer every day because you have no f-king clue to what your [sic] doing,” he wrote.

“You’re no hero but scum looser [sic] on a power trip.

“Tables will turn one day promise you that…. [sic]”

Another lengthy message was sent shortly afterwards, in which he accused her of taking the children “for no reason” and called her “f-king lier scum [sic]”.

“How bout you f-king do drug test your self you are obously [sic] off your head,” he said.

“[Our children] are healthy always up to date with there doctor check ups never ending good healthy food for them I shouldn’t have to explain to a gronk like yourself.”

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A CYPS supervisor messaged the man the next day, warning him they did not tolerate abuse or threats and would be sending the messages to their legal team.

But half an hour later, the father sent another expletive-laden message to the first worker, including saying, “your [sic] putrid and disgust me”.

He did apologise, but weeks later, in January 2022, he embarked on a stalking campaign.

For instance, the first worker received a message from a sexual health centre service saying she may have been exposed to syphilis and advising her to get tested.

Later that same day, he sent an email to the general CYPS account saying the three workers should be stood down and alleged to have found a conflict of interest between them.

“I’m writing on behave [sic] of the parents and I’m a reporter,” he wrote.

“This will hit media and have a big impact.”

He was behind another email sent to the CYPS’s general email account the day after, purporting to be from the first worker saying she was quitting her job.

The email claimed she was a “cocaine addic [sic]”, that she had been approached by media to let them know about the “false bulls-t” the CYPS “made up” on people, and also said, “you b-ches can suck it”.

“[Her name] the one and only,” the email finished.

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The worker also received an email from the Beyond Blue support service falsely claiming she had contacted them regarding sexual matters.

After the last email, CYPS contacted police and relocated the worker out of concern for her safety.

When police arrested the father in March 2022, he used the handcuffs around his wrist to scratch the window of a police car before officers restrained him on the ground.

Seven other charges laid against the father were withdrawn after he pleaded guilty on Thursday, including intimidating a witness and impersonating a public official.

Magistrate Taylor remanded him in custody and adjourned for sentencing in February 2023.

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