A man who installed a GPS tracking device on a woman’s car and smashed her phone screen after she was “pecked” by a friend but acquitted of rape allegations has been told he will avoid jail time.
Joshua Alan James Wootton, 33, appeared before Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to recklessly damaging property, using a tracking device without consent, and stalking.
Wootton was found not guilty by a jury of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of assault, which related to the same woman.
During sentencing, which will resume next week, Judge David Michael Wilson said he did not agree with submissions by the Crown prosecutor that the offending was “within the range” of a fulltime custodial sentence.
The Crown claimed Wootton’s placing of the tracking device on the car reflected “impermissible criminal conduct” and “possessive, controlling behaviours”, though admitted it was on the low end of seriousness.
Wootton’s lawyers said he had “since abstained from controlling behaviour”.
The court was told Wootton had stalked the woman at a jewellery store where she worked with a man, with the pair spotting him staring over a fence in the direction of the store.
Wootton also installed a GPS tracking device on the woman’s car between January and December 2019 without her knowledge or consent, and had earlier smashed her phone after she admitted a friend had “pecked” her.
The court was also told Wootton had earlier been sentenced in the local court without conviction by way of a Section 14 mental health application over stalking allegations concerning a second woman.
Police had alleged Wootton had raped a woman in July 2014 and again in December 2017, as well as her some time between September and December 2018. On those charges, a jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
Wootton, from Oran Park in Sydney’s southwest, was stood down from the police force after he was charged in June 2022. He will reappear before the same court next week for sentencing.
