A man who claimed threats to his former lawyer were misinterpreted because he only speaks "Aussie language" and not proper English has lost an appeal against an intervention order against him.
Among other things, Adelaide man Paul Atkins sent an email to his former lawyer saying he wanted to give a summons to her personally so she could "bend over and I can stick it up your arse".
The Adelaide man said this was simply him reverting to the use of "Australian English".
The lawyer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been engaged by Mr Atkins from 2011 to 2014 but the communication that led to the intervention order only began in 2017.
It ended once an interim intervention order was issued in 2019.
The lawyer said Mr Atkins had sent about 40 emails and letters to her or people she knew by then.
Mr Atkins told the South Australian Supreme Court he was "profoundly dyslexic" and suffered from various mental illnesses.
"I can’t speak English, that’s it. So, these words are typical English. Typical Australian."
In another email, Mr Atkins told a barrister his lawyer had instructed that he "truly understood the Martin Bryant's (sic) of this world", referring to the perpetrator of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
Mr Atkins said this was not meant to be a threat, saying that just because he understood Bryant's motivations did not mean he would do the same.
'Not unreasonable' act of abuse may happen
In dismissing Mr Atkins's appeal against the intervention order, Justice Sandi McDonald said it was "not unreasonable to suspect, given Mr Atkins's feelings towards the protected person, that he will, without intervention, commit an act of abuse against the protected person in the future".
"The intervention order to date has had the desired effect with no allegation of abuse occurring since its inception," she said.
She said the "material referred to in those allegations contain offensive material constituting an abuse" and the Martin Bryant comment that led to the intervention order being sought "appears to be one of the most sinister communications".
She dismissed his claim that the intervention order was only taken out to thwart civil action he had begun against his former lawyer.
That claim was dismissed by the District Court, after which the chambers of the master who decided the case received an email from Mr Atkins saying his former lawyer had "milked me dry to feather her own nest".
Mr Atkins said this was not offensive but a further example of "Aussie language".
