A TAMWORTH publican has had his sentencing delayed in court after he was found guilty of sending dozens of menacing emails and threatening a police prosecutor.
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Michael Ian Foxman was due to be sentenced for the offences in Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, but the matters were delayed and set down for another date after his lawyers made applications to the court.
Foxman will face court in June after a request for his strict bail conditions to be reviewed was submitted.
No changes were granted in court on Friday, but the matters were relisted for a magistrate to consider the bail review.
During a special hearing in Tamworth Local Court last month, Foxman was found guilty of sending dozens of menacing and "rambling" emails as well as threatening a police prosecutor that had been involved in his matters.
The Imperial Hotel owner was facing charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend; and threaten a person with the intent to influence a public justice official.
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Magistrate Greg Grogin considered a voluminous brief handed up during the special hearing in April, which detailed the contents of the emails sent by Foxman; statements from court staff and the police prosecutor; as well as a transcript of Foxman's interactions with police when he was arrested in Bondi last year.
At the end of the hearing, Mr Grogin found that the content of an email sent to the police prosecutor and the court in September last year was a "threat", and said there was "no doubt" the person it was directed at found it "disturbing".
It was revealed during the hearing that Foxman had sent more than 30 emails over a five-month period to the prosecutor - including 22 in one day - and CC'd various government departments, the Tamworth court, politicians, the US embassy in Canberra, the prime minister and organisations like ICAC in several of the emails.
Mr Grogin heard an email sent by Foxman last September had caused the Tamworth courthouse to be evacuated for half-an-hour.
Foxman wrote in the email that the courthouse was going to be "all that is going to be left by the time I'm finished with you", as well as the words "3pm is your d-day".
There was no dispute during the hearing that Foxman had sent the emails, but his barrister at the time, Jonathan Cohen, had argued parts of the emails were "outlandish" and could not be taken seriously.
The intention is this man seriously believes there is ... a conspiracy against him.
- Jonathan Cohen, defence barrister
"The intention is this man seriously believes there is ... a conspiracy against him," Mr Cohen said during the hearing.
He added that Foxman believed the way his other matters before the court were being handled was "affecting the relationship between Australia and China".
The Crown submitted Foxman had sent the emails "knowing it would cause a menacing, harassing and offensive effect" and was intentionally trying to affect the way his matters were being prosecuted.
Foxman, who is on bail in Sydney, was taken into custody by police late last year, and the Crown played footage from an officer's body worn cameras during the arrest.
In the video, Foxman could be heard saying: "I'm sending them sh*t emails, I am just going to keep inundating them until they give up."
Mr Grogin ultimately found the Tamworth publican guilty on both charges, and adjourned the matters for sentencing.
A bail review has been set for June, and will be dealt with before Foxman can be handed his sentence.
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