An unemployed man who wrote several letters to an 85-year-old pensioner, telling her in detail about how he wanted to have sex with her, left the elderly victim living in fear.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Benalla man Brett Day, 56, is unable to explain why he targeted the woman on multiple occasions.
The Wangaratta Magistrates Court recently heard Day first wrote a two-page note to the victim on March 19 last year.
He went to her Wedge Street home and left it for her to find.
She feared for her safety and reported it to the police, who attended the property and seized the letter as evidence.
Day returned to the house a week later and left a three-page letter in the woman's letterbox, again causing her fear and anxiety.
He returned with another sexualised letter on April 7 and dropped it off.
Police saw him walking back to the victim's address on April 14 and they found evidence of his actions in a backpack.
Day, who didn't know the victim, was arrested and interviewed and told police it was "spur of the moment" behaviour.
It was something, he said, which he couldn't provide an explanation for, but added he had been struggling.
"I'm really ashamed of it," he said.
"I don't know why.
"I've been through some bad times lately, I've just made it 10 times worse for myself."
He admitted his actions weren't nice, and believed the woman was in her 60s or 70s.
The victim gave two statements to police and said the incidents left her unable to eat properly, and she was regularly looking out of her window.
IN OTHER NEWS:
She was grateful when police arrested Day.
"If you didn't catch him, I would have gone down quickly," she said.
"I think I can just go about my business now."
Day had lost his job before the offending and was couch surfing and using ice at the time.
The court heard while he had some prior criminal history for other offences, including for dishonesty, his record was "minimal."
Lawyer Nancy Battiato said her client was honest when he spoke to police and didn't try to deny his behaviour.
She said the offending occurred over three weeks, a relatively short period of time.
Ms Battiato noted that he didn't have any priors for similar offending.
She also said while Day appeared to be walking back to the woman's home at the time he was arrested, he was actually going somewhere else.
Magistrate Peter Dunn imposed a community corrections order with 100 hours of community work over 18 months.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News