
A MAN who 'bombarded' a person with 145 text messages in one day has been told his behaviour is akin to that of a teenager.
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Scott Spek, 42, of Henderson Street, West Bathurst, pleaded guilty in Bathurst Local Court on November 2 to intimidation, common assault and using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend.
According to court documents, Spek spoke with the victim on the night of October 5 this year.
After he sent the victim 13 text messages on October 7, the victim turned their phone off at 8.30am the following day as they didn't want to speak with Spek.
The court heard the victim turned their phone on 12 hours later and got 145 messages from Spek.
The victim sent Spek a text message at 9.46am on October 9 to say his behaviour was inappropriate and unwelcome.
The victim went to Bathurst Police Station at 10.40am the following day to report the incident to officers who counted the total number of messages sent between 8.46am and 11.44pm.
Spek went to the police station at 4.10pm on the same day where he was arrested, and told officers he didn't send the messages from 4pm as he was in police custody.
Police confirmed Spek didn't enter custody until 5.19pm.
On a separate occasion, Spek went to an address on Bentinck Street in Bathurst about 4pm on October 8 this year.
Spek became agitated and aggressive towards a different victim who did not allow Spek inside the home, and yelled, threw his keys and a packet of cigarettes on the ground.
"You want to go, let's go. I'll lay you out," Spek said to the victim.
The court heard Spek grabbed the victim's collar and pushed him into the wall near the front door, before he raised his right hand in a fist.
"I'm not even going to raise a hand," the victim said.
"You don't have to," Spek replied.
A witness stood in between Spek and the victim as Spek stepped away and continued to yell at the victim before he left.
Police said they went to the address at 6.15pm and got an electronic statement from the victim as well as a written statement from the witness.
The court was told police then went to an address on Henderson Street in West Bathurst where they arrested Spek, who admitted to threatening the victim.
He was taken to Bathurst Police Station where he participated in an electronic interview.
"I may very well have grabbed him by the scruff of the neck I don't know. I'll keep going back there until I get an answer and if he gets in my way it'll probably happen again," Spek said.
Spek's Legal Aid solicitor, Mr Kuan, told the court it could consider dealing with his client by way of a conditional release order (CRO), which Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis promptly rejected.
"Mr Kuan, I might be an optimist but a CRO?" Magistrate Ellis said.
"The amount of text messages is phenomenal. Mr Spek must have done nothing but text the whole day.
"I might accept this behaviour from a teenager, but not someone of your date of birth Mr Spek.
"To add insult, or assault, to injury, you threw the first victim against the wall."
Spek was placed on a 12-month community correction order.
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