A man who has been described as a menace to his community is back in court after he repeatedly phoned a woman and made sex noises, and sent her videos of himself performing sex acts.
Daniel Lee Barlow, who has been to prison multiple times already, will now walk a tightrope of intensive supervision in the hope it will break the circuit of his offending.
Otherwise, he’ll be back in prison.
The 48-year-old has 158 prior convictions, by a judge’s count, spanning an 18-page criminal history mostly for dishonesty and non-compliance.
Judge Tony Snell said while sentencing Barlow in the Nelson District Court this week for his latest bout of offending, including offensive use of a telephone, that his criminal history showed he was an “absolute menace” in the community, and had been for many years.
“You need to stop. Your offending is getting more serious and you have hurt people close to you,” he said.
Barlow’s latest offending was described by his lawyer, Ian Miller, as “deeply unpleasant”, whereas Judge Snell said it was worse than that, and the charge should have reflected what happened.
“It’s a rather innocuous charge for what was serious offending,” he said.
Barlow created images, videos and “numerous” voice messages of a highly sexualised nature which he sent to a family member, for whom Miller recommended a protection order so Barlow could not contact her again.
Police prosecutor Rebecca Terry agreed the offending, which she described as “extremely unusual”, had been under-charged, and made more disturbing because the pair knew each other.
The victim now wanted Barlow to get “serious help”, and did not want to hear from him ever again.
Miller described Barlow as “highly anxious” and someone who was often in tears, which suggested he was struggling with what had happened and needed professional help.
Barlow was sentenced to 18 months’ intensive supervision on the lead charge of offensive use of a telephone, plus a theft charge after he drove off from a fuel station without paying the $30 he owed, and a breach of bail after failing to appear in court earlier.
On Tuesday, he appeared via video link from the Christchurch District Court, and narrowly avoided going back to prison.
Judge Snell said the summary of facts showed Barlow began sending the victim numerous voice messages from a WhatsApp account in which he made sexualised noises, plus videos of himself performing offensive acts in 2022.
On the afternoon of October 25, 2024, Barlow phoned the woman six times and because she did not answer, he left further voice messages, saying things about her and wanting her to engage in sex acts over the phone.
Judge Snell was not sure if Barlow was telling the truth about him not recalling what happened because of his alcohol consumption, but there was no dispute that he had done it.
He said the woman felt “frightened and anxious, disgusted and betrayed”, and sought counselling as a result.
She was also left feeling unsafe, especially because of past events which had made her more vulnerable.
In July last year, Barlow pulled into a fuel station in Wakefield, put $30 worth of fuel in his vehicle then went into the store and told them he had forgotten his bank card.
He said he would go and get it from the vehicle but drove off. The theft was reported weeks later when he still hadn’t paid, Judge Snell said.
The judge said Barlow had been “significantly under-charged” but he had to sentence him on what he was charged with.
From an adjusted starting point of four-and-a-half months in prison, which factored in uplifts for Barlow’s previous offending, Judge Snell arrived at the sentence of intensive supervision with special conditions after deductions for Barlow’s early guilty plea.
“I consider that giving you intensive supervision is designed to try and break your pattern of offending over years, but if you breach this and are brought back to court, you’ll likely go to prison,” he said.
“Take this chance with both hands because you have been wasting your life over the past 20 to 30 years.”
He also granted a protection order in favour of the victim.
