A BENDIGO man who threatened to kill his partner and destroy her home has been jailed for six months.
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The 56-year-old man appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Tuesday where he accepted Magistrate Trieu Huynh's sentence indication.
The man subsequently pleaded guilty to charges including making threats to kill, making threats to damage property, and persistently breaching a family violence intervention order.
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The court heard an interim order was issued on November 3, with the man's partner listed as the protected person.
Under the order, the man was not allowed to contact or be within five metres of the woman.
The order was varied on November 29 so the man could be near the woman as long as he did not commit family violence.
But the man was sitting with the woman during the virtual court hearing, which breached the original order.
The man then went to the woman's home on December 5. The pair had dinner and were amiable before the woman's male friend arrived.
The 56-year-old became annoyed that the other man was at the property and texted the woman that the man needed to leave.
The friend ultimately left the property but the woman became upset when her partner started talking about another woman.
The couple argued and the man called her a degrading name before she ordered him to leave.
The court heard the woman locked the front door after he exited, but he stood outside and yelled that she was a "f****** dog".
Over the next few hours, the man called the woman eight times and sent her 52 text messages.
The messages were derogatory and included threats like, "I'm going to destroy you and your home" and "you're dead".
The court heard the woman responded to some of the messages, asking the man to stop, but he continued.
She contacted police about 10.30am on December 6 and officers arrested the man a short time later.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh last week labelled the messages as "highly offensive and highly degrading", noting it was clear the woman had felt unsafe.
Mr Huynh said he needed to ensure the sentence would deter the man from committing the same offences.
The man was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with 15 days of pre-sentence detention reckoned as already served.
The man's previous community corrections order was also varied to restart upon his release from prison.
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