A Bellambi tradie who repeatedly harassed his friend's mother with crude late-night phone calls attributed his behaviour to an addiction to pornography.
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The 20-year-old, who cannot be named, was sentenced at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend stemming from 17 phone calls across a 12-month period.
Tendered court documents state the victim, a woman in her 50s, first received a call from a private number just after 11pm one evening in September 2022, and heard a young male's voice on the line.
"Help me, I need you to help me cum," the voice said.
The victim thought it was strange, however believed it was her son who may have been intoxicated and in need of help.
The voice repeated the sentence, while the victim asked where he was located.
He replied: "I'm at Thirroul beach, I need you to come here and help me cum."
The victim left her home with her daughter and scoured Thirroul beach in search of her son.
She spent 40 minutes on the phone to who she thought was her son, who continued to repeat the same line, until he said he wanted her to "sit on his c--k".
The woman grew suspicious and asked her daughter to call her brother. He answered the phone and confirmed he was at a gathering and had not called.
Court documents state the victim feared for her safety and felt extremely intimidated. She immediately left the beach and went home.
Over the following year, she received multiple late-night calls from a private number, and left most unanswered. When she did pick up, it was the same voice stating the same sentence.
Last September, she picked up the phone with an intention to record the voice, which again said: "I need help, I need to cum."
She received another three calls that night, however didn't answer due to feeling distressed. She phoned police the next morning, who arrived at her home and obtained her call history.
Police identified a phone number through iAsk records and called it, with the man answering. He presented himself to the police station on February 15.
The man's defence lawyer said his client "truly appreciates what he has done is wrong" and that he was engaging in psychological treatment for an addiction to pornography.
"He hasn't visited any pornographic sites since his treatment," he said, flagging man's struggles with anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Pavlin said a conviction was necessary due to the amount of calls and their sexual nature.
Magistrate Gabriel Fleming imposed an 18-month conditional release order, with a conviction, and ordered the man to continue with psychological treatment.