Coodanup man guilty of threats to harm after girlfriend sent explicit texts

A COODANUP man was fined after trying to defend his girlfriend’s honour.

Liam Gordon Turtle pleaded guilty to one charge of threats to harm when he appeared at Rockingham Magistrates Court today.

The prosecutor said Turtle was in the front garden of a Port Kennedy home at 12.30pm, October 7, 2016 when he began shouting out threats to the home’s occupants.

The victim came home and Turtle proceeded to tell him he was going to ‘give him a flogging’, ‘going to torch your house’ and was ‘going to give his two sons a flogging’.

The duty lawyer said the threats were in the context of Turtle’s girlfriend receiving inappropriate texts from the victim’s sons.

Turtle had gone to the Port Kennedy address with his brother and some friends.

The lawyer said Turtle was already in the car with his girlfriend when she received the explicit texts.

Magistrate Leanne Atkins asked Turtle directly if it was planned and when the girlfriend got the texts.

“No, it wasn’t. We were already in the car,” he said.

“There were about 20 explicit messages and she got them while we were in the car.

“It was a rash decision that I regret.”

Magistrate Atkins said he had targeted the wrong person.

“This is not minor offending. God only knows what this man thought when he got home and saw you there ranting and raving,” she said.

She asked what his girlfriend thought about his behaviour.

“She’s pretty upset now knowing I’d been charged,” he said.

Magistrate Atkins said she would grant the 19-year-old a spent conviction.

“This is not a trivial offence. I take a very dim view of people who carry on with this sort of behaviour,” she said.

“Grow up and get some backbone.

“I’m going to put this down to a lapse of judgement.”

He was fined $900 and was granted a spent conviction, as he had no prior convictions and due to his age.