Instead of blowing up balloons at his boy's birthday party, Nicholas Burgess was blowing smoke from a cannabis joint.
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And after the party-goers wound-up the gathering at a South Albury park they went to the hosts' home, where Burgess's wife sprung him on the dope again.
This time it was a bong in the laundry.
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The "adults" at the party had also been on the booze that day.
When his wife tried to leave the family's Lavington home with the children that night, he issued a threat.
"If you leave I will kill you and the kids."
Earlier, Burgess's wife was so concerned she called her mother-in-law for support.
"The accused's aggression was making the children upset," police said.
"They began to cry and hide from the accused."
Defence lawyer Mitchell Brooks told Albury Local Court magistrate Richard Funston on Tuesday it was "clear that Mr Burgess has a problem with alcohol".
"And cannabis," Mr Funston quickly replied.
Mr Funston castigated Burgess for thinking it was somehow OK to use an illicit drug such as cannabis at a children's birthday party.
"Seriously, what kind of role model is that?"
Burgess, 29, pleaded guilty to intimidation, possess a prohibited drug and possess equipment for administering a prohibited drug.
He had one gram of cannabis in a plastic bag in a pocket on his arrest, with another half a gram chopped up and mixed with tobacco in a bowl found with the bong.
Burgess was placed on a 12-month community corrections order and ordered to attend drug- and alcohol-related counselling.