Property agent ‘harassed’

A GOLD Coast man who sent an unsolicited picture of male genitalia to a real estate agent he did not know has escaped spending time in prison.

Gregory John Pearsall pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to using a carriage service to menace and harass and failing to appear in court.

Magistrate Louisa Pink sentenced the 50-year-old to three months in prison, to be immediately released on a $1000 good behaviour bond. He was also fined $300 for failing to appear in court.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Daniel McShane said the Southport man began posting on the Gold Coast real estate agent’s professional page on January 20 last year.

In one expletive-riddled post, he said: “You can’t sell anything. What would you know about property price and council regulations.”

The woman replied politely with her credentials but Pearsall replied with another expletive-riddled rant, the court was told.

“You are a f---ing genius,” part of the message read.

Sen-Const McShane said that on January 22 the woman woke to find a text message containing an image of a man’s genitalia had been sent to her the night before from an unknown number.

“It felt like she was being harassed,” Sen-Const McShane said.

“There needs to be a general deterrence for this type of sending unsolicited graphic images to unknown persons.”

The woman used the real estate database at her office to link the phone number to Pearsall, the court was told.

Defence lawyer Bianca van Heerden, of Ashkan Tai Lawyers, said Pearsall had suffered from bipolar since 2010 and eight months after he sent the image was admitted to the mental health unit at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

She said Pearsall had lost his business in the global financial crisis in 2008.