A family violence offender has pled guilty to breaching a safety order and been sentenced and denounced by a magistrate over his problematic behaviour and victim blaming.
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The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has a checkered past with his relationships and behaving badly, the court heard.
"It feels like it's shifting blame here and I'm not interested in that," Magistrate Sharon McRae said.
"It's your decisions, it's your behaviours, and it's your choices we're talking about and not anything the affected family member has done."
The court heard the victim had an intervention order (IVO) against the man for committing family violence.
The pair were in a relationship for two years, prior to splitting, and shared a 10 month old child.
The court heard the man struggled following the separation, which was 'unexpected.'
On November 16, the man was served with a final family violence order (FVO) with the condition of not contacting the victim except for making arrangements for their child.
The court was told on November 24, the offender sent the victim a friend request on snapchat, and on November 29, the man received a text from the victim.
The man replied to the messages and said 'I love you,' ' I want to marry you,' 'please, I need you so bad,' and 'please don't throw me away like this.'
The offender was picked up by police and interviewed, saying he added the victim on snapchat by accident, he didn't threaten to knock her house down - only the old him would have done that, and admitted to texting the victim, but sending only one message.
The man's lawyer said there were three contacts from the victim and in his responses, he wasn't being threatening towards her.
"He's professing his love for her," she said.
The lawyer said he knew he shouldn't have done that though.
"He realises the wrong in his actions," she said.
The lawyer said her client accidentally sent the victim a snapchat friend request and tried to undo it, and he wasn't very technologically advanced and had literacy issues.
She said the magistrate could consider giving the man a fine, given the time he'd already spent in custody.
"I feel uncomfortable with a fine," Magistrate McRae said.
"He's done six days in custody."
The court heard the man's employer regarded him highly and wrote in his character reference the man got duped into making the wrong decision.
The magistrate said the offender's employer valued him and the work he did, but she had a problem with the character reference he wrote and didn't like how it was written.
"I'm terrifically not happy with you," she said.
"An intervention order was granted because of your behaviour and what you did."
Magistrate McRae went on to say the man didn't deal with relationship breakdowns very well and needs to seek independent help.
"A person can say they no longer want a relationship with you... it's their personal choice," she said.
"They have come to the court. They have sought protection from you.
"You're not showing her much respect by breaching the order... or committing family violence against her."
The man, who appeared via videolink from custody, hung his head, nodded, and said sorry in response to the magistrate.
"I want to be out for Christmas please," he said.
The man was convicted and given an undertaking of good behaviour for six months - allowing him to walk free.
The magistrate said if the man reoffended, he'd be in breach of his undertaking, and would be resentenced.
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