A MAN who has breached a restraining order four times since it was imposed has been jailed for ten months after the Magistrate’s Court heard that all other options had failed.
Scott Leonard Furlong turned up at the home of a woman he was banned from contacting on Tuesday evening and said: “I’m here to cause trouble.”
Advocate Howard Tobias, prosecuting, said Furlong (39) received the restraining order on 17 May 2022 after a conviction for malicious damage. It banned him from any direct or indirect contact with the woman.
But he breached the order in December 2022, and January and October last year.
At 7.50pm on Tuesday evening he appeared at her home again, banging on the door and ringing the doorbell.
Advocate Tobias added that Furlong had “a catalogue of previous offences”.
Advocate Ian Jones, defending, said Furlong admitted the latest offence immediately and added that his behaviour was due to alcohol.
“When he is in drink he is a different person,” he said.
But Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz said a prison sentence was now inevitable.
She told Furlong: “There have been options in the past to try to give you assistance, but sadly they don’t seem to have helped.
“You are at very high risk of reoffending. There is no alternative to custody.”
