Dion Reginald Betts jailed for ‘chilling’ and ‘sinister’ breaches of family violence restraining order

A man sat next to his sedated former partner as she lay in a hospital bed in a “chilling” breach of a family violence restraining order, and sent more than 150 “sinister” and threatening emails to her. Dion Reginald Betts threatened to ruin his former girlfriend’s life, “get her” and his daughters when the FVRO expired, and “hang and bury” her, a Kalgoorlie court was told on Thursday. The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to six breaches of the FVRO and one breach of bail after the prosecution discontinued a stalking charge. Examples of the emails sent to the victim were read by prosecuting officer Sen. Const. Matthew Fullgrabe, who pushed for Betts to be immediately jailed. In the emails, Betts called the woman a variety of offensive names and would tell her he knew where she was and what she was doing, and say he was watching her and ask who she was with. “You do know once this VRO runs out I will come for you, and I will come for my girls,” Sen. Const. Fullgrabe said one email read. “I will ruin your life no matter what man you are with,” another read. Betts also admitted to sitting next to the victim as she lay sedated in a hospital bed following her surgery, fleeing when he saw her family coming. Magistrate Paul Lyons said the hospital encounter was a “chilling” breach that would have terrified the victim when she discovered what had happened. He said the other breaches had a “really sinister aspect to it” and persisted in a “threatening and aggressive” way despite the victim seeking the protection of the courts. Defence lawyer Leneva Polmear said Betts was ashamed about what he said and understood now that he had done wrong by his children and their mother. While Betts was in a third strike position for breaches of FVROs — and therefore faced a jail term unless it was unjust to do so — Ms Polmear said she believed his sentence could be suspended. She said he had kept out of trouble since his release from jail in 2017 and was committed to improving and making sure he did right by his children. Mr Lyons told Ms Polmear that while he was not a family lawyer, he suspected Betts had made matters much more difficult for himself regarding custody endeavours in the future. He said Betts’ offending was too serious to receive a suspended sentence and jailed him for 11 months, backdated to September 19, and made him eligible for parole. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)