A 22-year-old who threatened to kill the mother of his child was yesterday sentenced to a year behind bars.

Andre Nesbett pleaded guilty in Supreme Court earlier this year to sending a series of threatening Facebook messages to his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend in an incident last November.

Prosecutor Takiyah Burgess told the court that Nesbett and the victim had been in a serious relationship for six years and had a son together last year before breaking up.

On November 20, Nesbett allegedly began to send the victim threatening messages demanding access to his son, saying: “I will show up at every house you try to hide at and kill you.”

In subsequent messages he told her that he was not afraid of going to jail and threatened to leave the victim’s blood all over her mother’s things.

Later that day he showed up at her home, banging on the door and calling for his son. Police were contacted, but by the time they arrived Nesbett had already left the scene. He was subsequently found on Middle Road, in Warwick, and arrested.

Ms Burgess acknowledged that Nesbett had no previous convictions and had admitted the offence at the earliest opportunity, but said he had left the victim fearing for her and her son’s lives.

Defence counsel Auralee Cassidy told the court that Nesbett fully accepted responsibility for his comments, which she argued were made because he was frustrated due to the complainant toying with him over access to their son.

She also said Nesbett attended his ex-girlfriend’s home on the day of the incident because she said he could pick up his son, only to be refused when he arrived.

Nesbett himself apologised to the court, saying: “I didn’t mean anything I said. I was going through a lot of frustration and a lot of stress. I wasn’t thinking at the time. I learned my lesson from this whole experience, and it will never happen again.”

Delivering his sentence, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said: “I really don’t know what’s wrong with you young men today. You seem not to be able to control yourselves and the increasing number of these types of cases that seem to be coming before these courts of the last two or three years is a significant concern.

“It makes you wonder what happened before the electronic age, if women were suffering these barbs all along without being able to prove it.”

He said the defendant’s threats were “alarming and concerning”, and that it would be wrong to take the chance of believing the threats were empty.

“No court can take these threats lightly. No person should take these threats lightly,” he said. “You said already you have no fear of any jail. You have nothing to lose. Even if you are bluffing, no one should take the chance that you are. That’s a serious threat.”

Regarding Nesbett’s suggestion that the complainant had been denying him access to their son, Mr Justice Greaves said Nesbett should have taken his concerns to the Family Court.

“When a man comes to court talking about games played by other parties, the court must step in and ensure that he has access, even if she has to go to jail,” he said. “She is now going to be able to argue you’re a dangerous person who could kill the child. You made it worse.”

He sentenced Nesbett to one year in prison to be followed by three years of probation, including anger management programmes and any other courses recommended by the Department of Family Services.