Jacob Kelly: No jail for man who threatened WA judge responsible for jailing his wife over their son’s abuse

A man who made death threat against a WA judge presiding over his wife’s bizarre child abuse case has narrowly avoided a term of imprisonment and instead been hit with a big fine. Jacob Scott Kelly told his wife Sarah Jayne Kelly on a prison phone call in July that he would “get friends to do stuff” to District Court of WA Judge Laurie Levy, if the judge did not grant her home detention bail. She was on remand at Melaleuca Prison awaiting sentencing and the call was being recorded, as usual jail practice. Days later, the 31-year-old father-of-four sent an email apologising. “I didn’t mean what I said. . . I deeply regret what I said on that phone call,” he wrote to Judge Levy. Kelly then contacted the court, asking for the email to not be shown to the judge. At his sentencing in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday, defence lawyer Ashley Watson said his client was stressed and anxious as a sole carer for their young children, while worrying about his wife in jail. The “flavour to it” was “all a bit naïve”. “It’s a case of the mouth running off,” Mr Wilson said, adding his client had no intent of carrying out the threat nor the friends who could do it. “He’s blown his top. He is venting with his partner,” he said. Magistrate Clare Cullen said she would ordinarily impose a term of imprisonment after Kelly plead guilty to the offence of making a statement creating false apprehension as to the existence of threats or danger. She accepted he made the remark in “the heat of the moment” and had apologised, but said it was highly inappropriate for him to then directly contact his wife’s judge. She fined Kelly $15,000 and refused his bid for a spent conviction. “By making that threat against a judicial officer. . . you strike at the heart of the justice system,” Ms Cullen said. “Judicial officers must be able to act without fear or favour. And when someone threatens that independence. . . it undermines that whole system. “You’ve exercised an extreme poor judgement. “There were ways that you could express any concerns through legal means.” Kelly flagged his 30-year-old wife was looking into appealing after being sentenced in October to three years and nine months’ jail. She needlessly subjected their two-year-old son to medical treatment in three States, falsely claiming he suffered epilepsy and cerebral palsy. The boy was subjected to painful naso-gastric tubes and medication with potentially life-threatening side effects. She also lied to the court that she had breast cancer, before fleeing to NSW with her whole family while awaiting sentencing.