John Binotto pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, November 10, to possessing a controlled weapon without an excuse, damaging property, dealing with the proceeds of a crime, making threats to kill, stalking, drug possession, and six counts of contravening a personal safety intervention order.
Prosecutor Leading Constable Chris Cole told the court Binotto appeared at his ex-partner’s house on September 20 after leaving numerous messages on her phone, including a voice message saying he was going to find the victim and kill her, and a text message saying he was en-route to kill her father.
The court heard Binotto banged on the door of the Cobram house and yelled out before throwing a can of drink on the front porch and riding off on a bicycle.
Five minutes later Binotto appeared at the back of the property and smashed through a hole in the fence. A visitor who was inside the house spoke to Binotto and he agreed to leave, Ldg Constable Cole said.
The court was told that within five minutes Binotto was back banging on the kitchen window and making threats to kill the woman. He fired an arrow from a compound bow through the flyscreen mesh door and into the wooden back door, damaging both.
The woman’s father, the visitor and a neighbour all called triple zero, and at 1.15 pm Binotto was located by police on Ivy St, Cobram.
The court heard that Binotto attempted to flee on his bicycle, but police administered capsicum spray and he was arrested. Police found 0.81 grams of methylamphetamine and $590 cash in Binotto's underpants, Ldg Constable Cole said.
The court was also told Binotto had a personal safety intervention order taken out on him by another woman, who he’d befriended 12 months earlier, after he broke her flat window with a machete when he became paranoid he couldn’t trust her.
Ldg Constable Cole said Binotto sent that woman more than 140 text and Facebook messages from two accounts, as well as one video message, and called her nine times.
The messages contained “threatening language, pornographic images, and photographs of weapons”, Ldg Constable Cole said.
The court heard that when he was asked about the calls and messages, Binotto admitted to police he had sent some of them, but also said he regularly gave other people access to his phone.
He admitted to owning and operating one Facebook account which sent the messages and deleting some messages he’d sent but claimed not to know about the second account.
Binotto's solicitor Anthony Coote said his client had little recollection of the offences on September 20 as he was “on an ice bender”.
Mr Coote said his client had a long history of substance abuse, which was complicated by an IQ of 71.
“His IQ stops him from having pathways to prevent re-offending … he has a wretched past and a bleak future until he can get his meth use cleaned up,” Mr Coote said.
Magistrate Peter Dunn sentenced Binotto to 12 months’ prison, with a six-month non-parole period, and fined him $1000 for the damage caused, dealing with the proceeds of a crime and possession of methylamphetamine.
Magistrate Dunn said the charges involving the bow and arrow were “terrifying” and that Binotto had a serious problem.
“Imagine being in that house, having this guy come to your door, smashing into your backyard with a bow and arrow … the person who threatened to kill your family,” he said.
“(He’s) clearly a violent man who doesn’t mind imposing his will on women.”
