WAGGA LOCAL COURT
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A WOMAN who breached an apprehended violence order (AVO) by being at a house where the man needing protection from her was found dead has been jailed.
Kellie Jane Cole, also known as Kellie Jane Scott, was at 73-year-old Clifford Moy's Tumut home on December 21 when a fire started.
An AVO finalised in Tumut Local Court 10 days earlier prohibited 38-year-old Cole from contacting Mr Moy in any way and also banned her from going within 20 metres of his Banksia Crescent house.
But a neighbour saw Cole leaving Mr Moy's house as smoke billowed from the building about 4.40pm on December 21.
Firefighters found Mr Moy's body just after 5pm.
Cole was interviewed at the scene by police and charged that evening with breaching the AVO.
She was kept in custody until a successful bail application in Wagga Local Court on January 7 allowed her to live in the Sydney suburb of Northbridge pending the matter's next mention in Tumut Local Court on January 28.
On that day, however, Cole was convicted in her absence.
A warrant was issued for Cole's arrest and she was picked up by police in Wagga.
She faced Wagga Local Court on Monday via audio-visual link with the Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre.
Cole's solicitor, PC Reddy, asked magistrate Michael Antrum to disregard details about the fire contained in police facts, arguing the fire was something police had investigated as a separate incident and his client had not been charged over the blaze.
(The Daily Advertiser contacted Tumut police who said investigations into the fire were continuing and it was a matter now before the coroner).
Mr Reddy put to the court that Cole and Mr Moy had sought AVOs against each other in the past and each had been guilty of breaches.
In fact, Cole had been jailed in the past for breaching an AVO protecting Mr Moy.
Despite this, the pair had long been friends, Mr Reddy said.
He said two days before the fire, Cole had been assaulted by someone else at Gundagai and Mr Moy had rang her, saying: "Come, I'll look after you".
"Somehow, the house caught fire and, unfortunately, Mr Moy succumbed to the fire and she (Coles) scrambled out," Mr Reddy said.
Mr Reddy submitted that the AVO breach did not involve violence and that there could be no further breaches.
Mr Antrum said facts relating to the fire should not affect his determination of the AVO breach.
While ranking the breach at the lower end of objective seriousness, Mr Antrum noted it was the 13th time Cole had been before a court for such an offence, therefore the seriousness of the offence was mid-range for a crime that draws a maximum sentence of two years.
He jailed Coles for 12 months, with a non-parole period of nine months backdated to February 17.