Jailed for threat to ex-partner

A MAN who threatened his former partner, saying he would kill her if she gave evidence against him in court, committed a “serious example” of the crime attempting to interfere with a witness, a Supreme Court judge says.

Stephen John Williams, 29, pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday.

The court heard Williams put his hand around his former partner’s throat, lifted her off the ground and said words to the effect of, “if you go to court I’ll kill you” in September 2016.

Williams was subject to a family violence order to prevent him seeing his ex-partner.

“This is a serious example because it involved an act of violence ... it’s an act that asserts control and domination over the victim,” Justice Helen Wood said.

She said the courts were “very concerned” about pressure being placed on victims of family violence and she said a lengthy jail sentence was required in Williams’s case.

Justice Wood sentenced him to 13 months’ jail, backdated to July last year to account for the time he has already spent in custody. She suspended the final month of Williams’s sentence.