Dylan Welsh handed 12 month suspended jail term over drunken Gero bribe against ex-partner

A Geraldton man who tried to bribe his ex-partner to drop family violence charges against him has avoided jail after he was given a final chance by a judge. Dylan Raymond Welsh appeared in Geraldton District Court on Monday for sentence on one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The court was told Welsh’s ex-partner has a family violence restraining order against him and he was previously charged for breaching the order. State prosecutor Gary Huggins said Welsh was at the Geraldton Hotel on January 23, 2022 when he saw the protected person. Mr Huggins said Welsh sent messages to her through an Instagram account linked to him, attempting to get the charges dropped. The messages included: “how much to drop everything” and “I’ll pay you 1000 to drop everything.” Welsh was arrested at 11.40pm that night, his mobile phone was seized and he made admissions to the offences. Defending himself in the courtroom, the 23-year-old man said he was drunk and on drugs at the time. However, he highlighted that he was now off the drugs and supporting his mum and sister through his job as a fly-in-fly-out worker. Judge Alan Troy sentenced Welsh to 12 months imprisonment, but suspended the term for 12 months. “You’ve got that hanging over your head, don’t ignore it, if you do you’ve only got yourself to blame,” Judge Troy said.