A Ballarat man who stalked his former partner and persistently breached an intervention order by contacting her more than 4000 times has pleaded guilty.
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Justin Blaby, 40, initially faced 119 charges relating to incidents involving his former partner during 2019. The pair, who separated in December 2018, have one child together.
At the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Wednesday, the prosecution withdrew 109 charges and Blaby pleaded guilty to the remaining 10 charges, which included persistently contravening an intervention order and stalking.
The court was told between August and October, Blaby contacted his former partner 4018 times on her mobile phone. He sent her up to 500 text messages in one day.
Between September 28 and October 3 Blaby made a facebook post where he referenced his former partner.
In the final incident on October 18, Blaby phoned the complainant and her brother answered and identified it was the accused.
An intervention order, prohibiting Blaby from contacting his former partner, was in place at the time. He was arrested on October 9 and remanded in custody.
Defence lawyer Natasha Freijah sought a sentence indication from the court, saying it was important to understand the context of her client's offending.
She said Blaby was a person of good character, he was a selfless person and wanted to start afresh with his family.
Ms Freijah said although Blaby had seven pages of prior criminal offending, it was his first time in custody since 2003.
He pleaded guilty to the charges after he was found suitable for a community correction order. Magistrate Noreen Toohey told Blaby by pleading guilty, he had demonstrated remorse.
"You have a team of people at court today supporting you," Ms Toohey said.
"I am hoping we won't see you back here again."
Blaby was sentenced to 106 days' imprisonment, which he has already served, and placed on a 15-month community correction order. He was released from custody on Wednesday evening.
He will be under supervision, be monitored by the court and need to complete programs to treat offending behaviour.
Blaby had strong support in court from two of his children, his father and a family friend.
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