Napier phone pest warned 'jail next time' after calling woman 108 times in 3 weeks

A man sentenced in Napier District Court has been warned he is going to jail if he makes more harassing phone calls to young women. Photo / File

A Napier man arrested for making harassing phone calls to young women had called one victim 108 times in three weeks.

John Wayne Geddes, 31, appeared in the Napier District Court on Tuesday and was sentenced to 18 months' probationary supervision and 100 hours' community work.

He had pleaded guilty to four charges of misuse of a telephone, for which the maximum penalties are 3 months' jail and a $2000 fine.

Geddes also admitted an unrelated charge of taking and using a bank card which was then involved in 18 transactions with spending of about $650 over two days.

The misuse of a telephone charges represented multiple offences, and Judge Tony Adeane issued a final warning that if there were any more, then Geddes would be off to prison.

A police summary of facts stated most of the offences happened after Geddes approached two women separately, a few hours apart, in Napier nightspots in early September, and obtained their phone numbers.

Both later started to get multiple "No Caller ID" calls, few of which they answered, but when they did Geddes was warned to stop.

He told one woman that if she called police he would give her number to his friends. Dozens of further calls were made, including 108 calls to one of the numbers in just three weeks.

Geddes is no stranger to phone stalking.

In 2018, police found Geddes in possession of a 24-page dossier with 2000-plus names. After tracing his outgoing calls, police had discovered Geddes had made multiple "hang-up" calls, with over 300 on one night.

Before Tuesday's sentencing, Geddes had 12 previous convictions for misuse of a telephone, with five involving multiple offences.