Straight to jail: threats to kill see woman put behind bars

Therese Ann Dwyer, whose address was recorded as both the Gold Panner Caravan Park in Kelso and Henderson Street Bathurst, was sent to jail by Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis on November 8, 2023, after pleading guilty to charges of stalk/intimidate and hinder or resist police.

Dwyer was serving two Community Correction Orders for shoplifting at the time of both offences.

On July 8, 2023, Dwyer was invited to the victim's house to wash her clothes, as she was homeless at the time.

According to court documents, the pair knew each other had a few drinks together while they were waiting.

Then at about 9.30pm, Dwyer went to the toilet and when she came back out her demeanour had completely changed. She began screaming at the victim, threatening to assault him.

Fearful for his safety, the victim called police who removed Dwyer from the property when they arrived.

About an hour later, Dwyer returned to the victim's property and was removed again by police, but the victim didn't provide a statement at this time because he didn't want to get Dwyer into trouble, court documents read.

Later that night, Dwyer left three voice mails on the victim's phone, threatening to kill him and burn his house down.

The next day, July 9, 2023, the victim went to Bathurst Police Station and provided them with a statement and recordings of the voice mails Dwyer left on his phone.

On July 18, 2023, police attended an incident where they saw Dwyer walking along a footpath.

According to court documents, she became aggressive towards police and when they later discovered Dwyer's identity information, they arrested her and took her to Bathurst Police Station.

During a search by a female officer at the station, a small foil bag containing green vegetable matter fell onto the counter from one of Dwyer's pockets.

Ignoring instructions to leave it, Dwyer pulled away from the police officer and ate the substance.

Dwyer's solicitor told Bathurst Local court that her client was angry because she had provided services to the victim that he hadn't paid for, and that Dwyer was disgusted by her actions.

However, Magistrate Ellis said she deemed the intimidation facts to be on the medium to high end of the scale, and said there was no decision appropriate other than full-time imprisonment.

As Magistrate Ellis was explaining her reasoning behind this decision, Dwyer walked quickly towards the courtroom doors crying.

The 39-year-old was stopped by sheriffs and taken into custody, to serve a sentence with a non-parole period of one-year and three months.