Man harassed birth mother for information

A TOOWOOMBA man who legitimately tracked down his birth mother but went on to harass her when she wouldn’t divulge to him the name of his birth father has been fined by a city court.

Gavin Ashley Arnold had been born in Hobart but his mother had given him up for adoption as a baby, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told.

He hadn’t known that he was adopted until he was 25 and in 2016 the now 41-yearold used the Tasmanian State Government’s adoption and information service to track down his birth mother, police prosecutor Catherine Nielsen told the court.

His birth mother reached out to him and provided her email address and the two had conversed.

However, he had become more demanding, telling the woman she “owed him” for giving him up and at one point he asked her to buy him a new 4WD vehicle, Senior Constable Nielsen said.

After searching through social media to find his birth father, Arnold had become upset when his birth mother wouldn’t give him the name of his birth father.

His harassing got to the point the Tasmanian woman took out a 12-month restraining order against Arnold through the Burnie Magistrates Court, she said.

Sen-Const Nielsen said during a three-week period in April last year, Arnold made 40 calls or text messages a day to the woman in which he had called her derogatory terms and made threats.

Tasmanian police had turned the matter over to Toowoomba police who spoke to Arnold earlier this month, she said.

Arnold pleaded guilty to a charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

His solicitor Michael McElhinney said his client had grown up in foster families and moved to Toowoomba as a teenager.

His client had some mental health issues, he said.

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark fined Arnold $500.