A scorned woman has admitted embarking on a prolonged campaign of harassment when an affair broke down, leaving her former lover and his wife in fear and thousands of dollars out of pocket.
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Kingston resident Belinda McCosker, also known as Belinda Barbaro, pleaded guilty in Queanbeyan Local Court last week to a charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
Magistrate Joy Boulos sentenced the 43-year-old to a 12-month recognisance release order, requiring her to be of good behaviour.
A statement of facts tendered to the court shows that McCosker had an affair with a married Jindabyne man for about seven months, meeting in the ACT when the man travelled to Canberra for work.
The man's wife discovered the dalliance in March last year, prompting her husband to end things with McCosker in a bid to work on the marriage.
McCosker, who did not take kindly to this or to being blocked on social media, began incessantly ringing the couple.
Over a period of months she phoned the victims in short but regular bursts, sometimes making dozens of calls in one go.
In one example detailed in court documents, she rang her former lover 26 times in 53 minutes, leaving a number of messages.
The contents of what she allegedly said were redacted as part of her agreement to plead guilty, with the voice-to-text conversion described as "rambling".
"However, the tone is clear," the facts say.
"These messages created fear for the victims and they most certainly felt intimidated."
Court documents show that after the couple reported McCosker to police, they continued to document all contact believed to be from her, both over the phone and through social media.
"To date that log is 64 pages long with well over 200 entries," the facts prepared by police state.
"An apprehended domestic violence order was requested and granted [to protect the victims].
"The victims have been forced to change their phone numbers and have also felt in such fear that they have spent thousands of dollars on the security of their home in Jindabyne."
McCosker initially pleaded not guilty to the charge laid against her, but she switched her plea last Tuesday after negotiations between her lawyer Megan North and a police prosecutor.
Ms Boulos convicted the 43-year-old that day and imposed the recognisance release order, with security in the sum of $500.
