Olympic cyclist jailed for 18 months for stalking

Olympic silver medallist Gary Neiwand was today sentenced to 18 months' jail for stalking a former lover.

Neiwand pleaded guilty to stalking, theft and breaching an intervention order at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.Most of the offences happened in May after his relationship with the woman ended.

The court heard Neiwand had been suffering from depression and falsely believed she was seeing other men at the time.
It also heard that Neiwand broke an intervention order and sent abusive text messages to the woman's friends via a stolen mobile phone.

Neiwand was sentenced to a maximum of 18 months in jail.

The magistrate said Neiwand had been convicted of stalking before and his repeated behaviour was extremely serious.

Neiwand's family attended the hearing.

Neiwand won two silver and two bronze medals at the Olympics, the most recent coming at the Sydney 2000 Games, where he finished second in the men's Keirin event.

SOURCE: abc.net.au

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FORMER champion cyclist Gary Neiwand has pleaded guilty to stalking a former girlfriend, her mother and the girlfriend's boss.

The Olympic silver medallist, who is in jail for breaching an intervention order to stay away from his ex-wife, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court today on an unrelated matter.

He pleaded guilty to five charges of stalking, two of theft, two of using a carriage service in a harassing manner and one of breaching an intervention order.

The 39-year-old began making numerous hang-up calls to his former girlfriend's home and mobile phone early this year after she broke up with him, the court heard.

Police prosecutor Acting Sergeant Jo Leechman said the woman ended the brief relationship after a jealous Neiwand wrongly accused her of seeing other men.

After the woman changed her phone numbers, he began making hang-up phone calls to her mother and sent sexually explicit text messages about the woman to her boss, the court heard. He got the phone numbers from the woman's phone bill, which he had stolen, Acting Sgt Leechman said.

He also sent abusive text messages to a former work colleague and two other people on a stolen mobile phone between May and July, the court heard.

Neiwand's lawyer Martin Grinberg described his client's actions as "absurd" and said the father of two young children was ashamed of his behaviour.

He said Neiwand had received terrific family support after he confessed to them that he needed help and had thought about suicide.

Mr Grinberg asked the magistrate to consider a sentence that included psychiatric treatment. "Clearly it's what this fellow needs," Mr Grinberg said.

Chief Magistrate Ian Gray will sentence Neiwand tomorrow morning.

In February, Neiwand was jailed for four months after breaching an intervention order requiring him to keep away from his ex-wife. He breached the order by driving past her house.
Neiwand won sprint silver medals at the 1992 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Source: news.com.au/perthnow