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🇦🇺 Australia /Elections & Politics

Man who threatened prime minister and treasurer avoids jail

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Scott Evans, 57, pleaded guilty to threatening harm against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers in messages left at Chalmers's electorate office.
  • A magistrate sentenced him to six months in prison but released him immediately under an 18-month good behaviour order.
  • The court heard Evans was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, but the magistrate said his mental state did not make the threats less serious.

A Gold Coast man who threatened to assault Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers avoided spending time in jail after pleading guilty in court.

Australian Federal Police officers investigating threatening voice messages left at Chalmers's electorate office on June 23 traced them to Scott Evans, 57. Officers searched his home in Coomera on July 16 and found evidence of the threats on his mobile phone. Evans was charged with threatening to cause harm to a public official, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of two years.

Blood is going to be on your hands because I've had enough

· Scott EvansThe court heard this was one of the threats Evans left in a message to Treasurer Jim Chalmers's electorate office.

A Commonwealth prosecutor told Southport Magistrates Court that Evans left three aggressive messages within six minutes. One included the words, "Blood is going to be on your hands because I've had enough." Another threatened to punch Chalmers and Albanese.

This offending needs to be denounced

· Tian BehennaThe Commonwealth prosecutor argued that Evans should receive a prison sentence.

The prosecution argued that imprisonment was the only suitable punishment and that the offending needed to be denounced. Evans's lawyer said he was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and that his regular psychology appointment had been cancelled on the night of the calls, leaving him alone with negative thoughts. The lawyer described the conduct as an impulsive decision and said Evans was deeply embarrassed and ashamed.

Magistrate Pamela Dowse said the messages were extremely threatening to Australia's most senior politicians. She accepted Evans's early guilty plea and remorse but rejected the argument that he acted impulsively or lacked an intention to carry out the threats. "That's not relevant to the threat ... the people on the receiving end have got no idea what your intentions are," she said. Dowse recorded a conviction and imposed six months' imprisonment, but released Evans to serve an 18-month good behaviour order.

That's not relevant to the threat ... the people on the receiving end have got no idea what your intentions are

· Pamela DowseThe magistrate rejected the argument that Evans's intentions made the threats less serious.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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