A man charged with threatening to rape and kill his former partner and burn her house down has been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.
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The Duffy resident also allegedly threatened the former partner he would self-harm and sent her pictures via mobile phone of knives and cuts to his arms.
On Thursday the defendant called the complainant more than 60 times and sent her numerous text messages, with content which varied from loving to threatening, harassing and offensive, documents presented in the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday said.
About noon the next day he allegedly sent a text message which said he would attend the woman's home and "burn the place to the ground" if she was not there at 5.30pm.
Court documents said he sent 53 messages and called her 60 times during the next six hours, making threats to kill her, her friends and family if she did not speak or meet with him, to make public personal photos of her, and to burn her house down and kill anyone inside.
The woman, who has had a domestic violence order in place since May 22, was left feeling intimidated and fearful for the safety of herself and those around her, the documents said.
Police attended the woman's home at 6pm on Friday after she called for help. The defendant was arrested at his Duffy home about 2am Saturday.
He has been charged with using a mobile phone to threaten to kill and also harass and intimidate, an assault, stalking and breach of a protection order. In a police interview the defendant said he was diagnosed with major depression three months ago, and was struggling to deal with the recent end of the "on-off relationship" with the woman, who he had last met on Monday.
The duty defence lawyer said his instructions were to apply for bail, as the defendant said he did not need immediate care from mental health services.
A police constable told the court the defendant's behaviour was ongoing and continued to escalate.
"The defendant has said to us that he requires further assistance from a psychiatrist and that he wants to get his medication fixed."
Magistrate Robert Cook ordered the mental health assessment.
No pleas were entered. The matter will return to court at a later date.
