Nicholas Bell-Simcoe jailed after harassing Bathurst woman

Nicholas Mark Bell-Simcoe, 34, of Durham Street, Bathurst was sentenced to jail after he pleaded guilty in Bathurst Local Court on September 21, 2023 to:

Court documents state Bell-Simcoe called a woman - who at the time was a protected person in an AVO against him - during the morning of August 5, 2023, before he went on to phone her 25 times.

The next day, Bell-Simcoe called the victim 30 more times between 1.30pm and 9.40pm, and again on August 8 with 11 attempts.

The victim went to Bathurst Police Station, where she told police she was stressed and concerned for her safety because of Bell-Simcoe's "significant" violent history.

Police then went to a home on the Vale Road in Bathurst and arrested Bell-Simcoe.

He was taken to Bathurst Police Station, where he declined a police interview.

On a separate occasion, Bell-Simcoe was at the victim's home on July 10 where he smoked a 'bong'.

The court heard due to his level of intoxication, Bell-Simcoe dropped the cone from the apparatus and burned a hole in the victim's bed.

Bell-Simcoe was told to leave the home - where children were present - after an argument with the woman.

Then, between 7pm and 9pm on July 11, Bell-Simcoe called the woman 46 times.

He also made a phone call to the woman's workplace to try and speak with her, before he called her another 21 times between July 12 and July 19.

Bell-Simcoe then asked police to do a welfare check on the victim on July 19 because he hadn't heard from her.

Police went to the woman's home in Kelso the next day before they went and arrested Bell-Simcoe at his home on the Vale Road.

He was taken to Bathurst Police Station, where police noticed that he was "heavily" drunk.

According to a calculation of the call logs, Bell-Simcoe called the victim 123 times across both occasions.

Aboriginal Legal Service solicitor Usman Naveed told the court that his client at the time, while on parole, was heavily using drugs and alcohol, and "didn't intend" to scare the victim.

"It's certainly accepted that he harassed the victim, but I note the calls weren't encompassed by anything violent," Mr Naveed said.

"He acknowledges he was angry at the victim ... He has poor emotional regulation."

Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis found it "worrying" that Bell-Simcoe went to the level of getting a welfare check in a bid to intimidate the victim.

Ms Ellis also noted Bell-Simcoe had six violent charges on his record, and had served a prior District Court jail sentence.

"He still doesn't see the red flags," Ms Ellis said.

"These were an excessive number of phone calls ... his attitude is not accepted."

Bell-Simcoe was jailed for 15 months, with a non parole period of nine months.

He will be eligible for release on May 1, 2024.

"I urge you to undertake rehabilitation that I think is screamingly necessary," Ms Ellis said.

Bell-Simcoe has lodged an appeal to the Orange District Court on October 9, 2023 based on the sentence's severity.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens.

Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.