An 84-year-old Christchurch man, under a 24-hour curfew at a Papanui rest home, is hoping his incessant letter writing to a former lover won't land him in jail - again.
Bill de Hart is in trouble for breaching court orders. They were meant to keep him away from
the 64-year-old woman, his former partner of 21 years.
The jilted lover had collected seven convictions for making contact with the woman, and was jailed for five days about a year ago, The Weekend Press reported.
Current breaches relate to 13 letters he sent the woman. He was also spotted outside her home several times.
De Hart, originally from Scotland, is due to be sentenced on July 30.
He told The Press he had learned his lesson.
"I still care for her, but I realise what the law is and I daren't go anywhere near her. I don't want to go to jail again."
De Hart told the newspaper he was with the woman for 21 years. It became more of a boarder-landlady liaison about 16 years ago when he fought off cancer but "lost some function", the Press reported.
"She told me once she loved me dearly. She said she wouldn't let me die in a rest home. Even when we met four weeks ago, she told me she loved me," De Hart claimed.
He said he was only worried about her welfare, and that of her animals. "I love cats and dogs. I would go around there and put food out. Nobody can stop me from doing that," he said.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Dave Murry had opposed bail because the woman had already changed her residence to thwart the man's efforts. That had worked only briefly.
"He just will not comply with any order you make," the sergeant told the judge at the bail hearing.
"I'm not going to put him in jail at 84," said Judge John Bisphan.
"What are they going to do with him, for goodness sake?"
He remanded the man on bail with a 24-hour-a-day curfew at his rest home and ordered him not to contact the woman at all.
