A Tasmanian man who threatened an assault victim to try to force him to drop charges has avoided jail, with a judge handing him a wholly suspended six-month sentence.
Tory Malcolm Barker-Stokes, 26, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to perverting the course of justice.
The court heard Barker-Stokes assaulted the man on January 28, 2025, then sent him threatening Facebook messages over the next two days.
“You better reply, or I’ll come back up there. I already left a lump on yah,” one message read.
“I’m gunna f–k you up dick head do yah research,” he wrote in another.
After police spoke to him about the assault on February 20, 2025, he sent a further message demanding the charges be dropped.
“Drop the charges and that’s the end of it. If u don’t, you won’t like what happens next,” the message read.
“Don’t f–k with me. You should have done your research, if that assault charge isn’t dropped by tomorrow afternoon you’ll find out what I mean by that and it’s not gunna be good for you or anyone close to you so think about everyone and everything before you make this a war you can’t win. Drop the charges and nothing will happen. If you don’t well [two laughing emojis] like I said choose wisely.”
Justice Jago said the conduct struck at the integrity of the justice system.
“The sinister aspect of this crime is the intent you had,” the judge said.
“You were prepared to threaten [the victim] and cause him fear and apprehension in an endeavour to avoid responsibility for what you knew you had done.”
The court heard Barker-Stokes has complex post-traumatic stress disorder and a history of polysubstance abuse stemming from childhood trauma.
A forensic psychologist found a causal link between his PTSD and the offending.
Justice Jago suspended the sentence for 18 months and imposed a 12-month community correction order.
Barker-Stokes is still awaiting sentence for the underlying assault.
