A HALLS Gap man charged with sending hundreds of texts and making thousands of phone calls to a woman has been resentenced on appeal.
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Paul Kelly, 32, was previously jailed in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court for 12 months on September 7 and he appealed against the severity of that sentence.
This week in the Warrnambool County Court Judge Mark Taft altered the sentence to 12 months with six months to serve before being eligible for parole.
Kelly has already spent 169 days in custody so is now eligible for parole.
Judge Taft said it was Kelly's first time in custody and a non-parole period should have been set, followed by supervision provided by parole.
He said he accepted that Kelly had a difficult life but the appellant had harassed the victim repeatedly and ignored a court order a staggering amount of times.
Kelly contacted the woman 1864 times in 35 days while he was in a relationship with another woman.
Judge Taft said the victim was frightened for herself and her two young daughters.
"She was justifiably terrified about what you may do," he told Kelly.
Judge Taft said the law reflected community attitudes and court orders had to be enforced.
Kelly had two prior court appearances for similar offending.
Senior Constable Adrian Dolman previously told the court Kelly and a woman had been in a relationship between November last year and March this year when they separated.
The victim lives in Warrnambool and Kelly at Halls Gap.
The policeman said he believed Kelly had the woman under surveillance and was stalking her through text messages and phone calls.
He said between April 21 and May 25 Kelly telephoned the victim 1864 times.
The victim had also seen Kelly sitting in his car near her home on weekend and he had approached her at a fast food restaurant, a bottle shop, when she was picking up a babysitter, at a pizza shop and a hotel.
A neighbour also reported seeing Kelly looking in the windows of the woman's home despite being banned from being within 200 metres of the address.
The woman also found a phone stashed in her car and she believed Kelly had broken in to put the phone in place to trace her.
On May 19 the woman's roller door went up and down a number of times, she saw a garage door handle moving and pebbles thrown at her home.
Senior Constable Dolman said Kelly had been the subject of 20 reports to police involving three different women.
Judge Taft said it was clear that Kelly had stalked the victim.
