AN Echuca businesswoman who tormented a small community over four years with hundreds of sickening, cruel and vulgar text messages has been sentenced to jail.
However, Wendy Margaret Roberts, 47, walked free from the Echuca Magistrates Court on Friday after her lawyer said she would appeal.
She was released on bail pending the appeal.
Roberts was arrested in October 2008 after Bendigo police searched her workplace and found SIM cards used to send the menacing text messages.
She had appeared in the Echuca court earlier this month for a lengthy hearing, during which she maintained her innocence and pleaded not guilty.
During the hearing eight victims from central Victorian towns, including Boort and Echuca, were called to give evidence along with more then 40 witnesses.
Their evidence led magistrate Gregory McNamara to find Roberts guilty on 12 charges including four counts of stalking and eight counts of using a telecommunication service to menace.
He sentenced her to four months behind bars and ordered that she pay more than $12,000 in witness costs.
Mr McNamara described the offences as extraordinarily serious, extremely complex, planned and sophisticated, adversely affecting the health of the victims.
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