Albany stalker’s “cowardly” and “disgusting” text message spree

An Albany magistrate has slammed a stalker for being “cowardly” and “disgusting” by using his mobile phone to “overwhelm” his ex-partner with hundreds of text messages. Allan Damien Pollard, 43, bombarded his victim with messages while she was protected from him under a police order, Albany Magistrate’s Court was told on Friday. The Bayonet Head man pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking and three counts of breaching a police order after sending more than 200 messages to his ex-partner over two days in July. Prosecuting Sergeant Alan Dean told the court a police order was served on Pollard at 8pm on July 13, prohibiting him from contacting his ex-partner. Less than 24-hours later — at 6.12pm on July 14 — Pollard broke the order by sending a text message to his victim. In that text, Pollard told her not to inform police, saying that he would “be f...ed” if she did, according to Sgt Dean. Over the next two days, 204 text messages were sent from Pollard’s phone to his victim, with Sgt Dean saying the “vast majority” of them were “violent and explicit”. Sgt Dean told the court that stalking someone with a mobile phone — an offence he said was easy to commit and hard to stop — was becoming more prevalent in the community. Pollard was arrested at 10.45pm on July 16. Police refused Pollard bail and he was held in prison until his hearing on Friday. Magistrate Raelene Johnston said it was fortunate police stopped Pollard when they did, telling the court he was “fixated on doing nothing but sending messages”. “Some of them were grovelling, some of them were pleading, most of them were abusive,” she said. An 18-month prison sentence will now hang over Pollard’s head. Ms Johnston said an immediate term of imprisonment was appropriate for his crimes, but she had opted to place him on a 12-month pre-sentence order. The order means Pollard will regularly be subjected to scrutiny from the court and Department of Justice’s community corrections officers before a final sentence is determined. “The manner in which you acted was excessive,” Ms Johnston said. “She was overwhelmed by the number of messages you sent.” Pollard is prohibited from contacting the victim under his bail conditions.