By Tracy Neal, Open Justice multimedia journalist
A person who has been described as a menace to his neighborhood is again in court docket after he repeatedly phoned a lady and made intercourse noises, and despatched her movies of himself performing intercourse acts.
Daniel Lee Barlow, who has been to jail a number of occasions already, will now stroll a tightrope of intensive supervision within the hope it would break the circuit of his offending.
In any other case, he’ll be again in jail.
The 48-year-old has 158 prior convictions, by a choose’s depend, spanning an 18-page legal historical past largely for dishonesty and non-compliance.
Choose Tony Snell stated whereas sentencing Barlow within the Nelson District Court docket this week for his newest bout of offending, together with offensive use of a phone, that his legal historical past confirmed he was an “absolute menace” locally, and had been for a few years.
“You should cease. Your offending is getting extra severe and you’ve got damage folks near you,” he stated.
Barlow’s newest offending was described by his lawyer, Ian Miller, as “deeply disagreeable”, whereas Choose Snell stated it was worse than that, and the cost ought to have mirrored what occurred.
“It’s a relatively innocuous cost for what was severe offending,” he stated.
Offending ‘extraordinarily uncommon’
Barlow created photographs, movies and “quite a few” voice messages of a extremely sexualised nature which he despatched to a member of the family, for whom Miller advisable a safety order so Barlow couldn’t contact her once more.
Police prosecutor Rebecca Terry agreed the offending, which she described as “extraordinarily uncommon”, had been under-charged, and made extra disturbing as a result of the pair knew one another.
The sufferer now needed Barlow to get “severe assist”, and didn’t wish to hear from him ever once more.
Miller described Barlow as “extremely anxious” and somebody who was usually in tears, which steered he was combating what had occurred and wanted skilled assist.
Barlow was sentenced to 18 months’ intensive supervision on the lead cost of offensive use of a phone, plus a theft cost after he drove off from a gas station with out paying the $30 he owed, and a breach of bail after failing to look in court docket earlier.
On Tuesday, he appeared by way of video hyperlink from the Christchurch District Court docket, and narrowly prevented going again to jail.
‘Sexualised noises’ despatched on WhatsApp messages
Choose Snell stated the abstract of information confirmed Barlow started sending the sufferer quite a few voice messages from a WhatsApp account by which he made sexualised noises, plus movies of himself performing offensive acts in 2022.
On the afternoon of October 25, 2024, Barlow phoned the lady six occasions and since she didn’t reply, he left additional voice messages, saying issues about her and wanting her to have interaction in intercourse acts over the telephone.
Choose Snell was undecided if Barlow was telling the reality about him not recalling what occurred due to his alcohol consumption, however there was no dispute that he had achieved it.
He stated the lady felt “frightened and anxious, disgusted and betrayed”, and sought counselling because of this.
She was additionally left feeling unsafe, particularly due to previous occasions which had made her extra susceptible.
In July final 12 months, Barlow pulled right into a gas station in Wakefield, south of Nelson, put $30 price of gas in his automobile then went into the shop and informed them he had forgotten his financial institution card.
He stated he would go and get it from the automobile however drove off. The theft was reported weeks later when he nonetheless hadn’t paid, Choose Snell stated.
Sentence aimed to ‘break circuit’ of offending
The choose stated Barlow had been “considerably under-charged” however he needed to sentence him on what he was charged with.
From an adjusted start line of four-and-a-half months in jail, which factored in uplifts for Barlow’s earlier offending, Choose Snell arrived on the sentence of intensive supervision with particular circumstances after deductions for Barlow’s early responsible plea.
“I think about that supplying you with intensive supervision is designed to try to break your sample of offending over years, however in the event you breach this and are introduced again to court docket, you’ll probably go to jail,” he stated.
“Take this opportunity with each arms as a result of you may have been losing your life over the previous 20 to 30 years.”
He additionally granted a safety order in favour of the sufferer.
