After abruptly dropping his application for bail, a Melbourne IT specialist accused of following a lady across several states after she ended their covert relationship will stay behind bars.
Karl Lawrence Mentzer, 39, was supposed to continue his bail application on Monday afternoon, but the court was informed that he had given up on his request for release.
Just before the matter was scheduled to be called, Mentzer’s criminal attorney, Amelia Beech, informed the court that she had been instructed to withdraw the motion.
After the court was informed that the putative victim was “terrified” of Mentzer, he withdrew his application without providing an explanation.
Mentzer, who previously appeared via video link from the infamous Melbourne Assessment Prison, will now stay on remand at Ravenhall Correctional Centre.
Before the woman broke their relationship in January, Mentzer allegedly launched a stalker campaign against her.
Mentzer allegedly pursued the Sydney lady between January 1 and May 9, according to allegations heard by the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week.
Mentzer, who is accused of stalking, installing and utilizing an optical device, and harassing the woman by using a carriage service, got to know her through their shared occupations.
39-year-old Karl Lawrence Mentzer was accused of stalking
Mentzer is accused of installing a surveillance camera in a QT Melbourne hotel corridor.
Senior Constable Jason Randle of the Melbourne Family Violence Unit gave the court a thorough account of Mentzer’s alleged offense.
He claimed that Mentzer and the woman were “keeping a secret” their connection from July 2024 to January of this year because “they both had partners.”
The court was informed that Mentzer reportedly flew to Sydney in January and visited a dog park close to the woman’s home “where he knew she walked her dog and attempted to see her.”
The court heard that “Mentzer knew about” the woman’s prearranged travel to Tasmania in February.
Mentzer was “waiting in the arrival lounge for her” when she got to the Tasmanian airport.
Mentzer allegedly approached the woman at the airport and stated, “I will ruin you, I will burn your life down.”
In order to keep the woman “under surveillance” while she was in Tasmania, Mentzer is also accused of sending a drone above.
The woman claimed to have seen Mentzer snapping pictures of her on March 20 as she entered a Melbourne building.
Mentzer withdrew his bail request just before the hearing on Monday afternoon, and as a result, he was placed under detention in custody.
The court was informed on April 3 that Mentzer returned to Sydney and allegedly snapped a picture of the woman’s husband in a park close to their residence.
The woman is said to have received the photo from Mentzer.
Mentzer was “intimidating the victim and showing her that he was near her house,” according to Senior Constable Randle, and her “husband was under surveillance.”
He continued by saying that Mentzer was reportedly aware of the woman’s pre-arranged journey to Melbourne on April 15.
Mentzer is accused of “waiting for her” at the airport once more, despite the woman’s declaration that she “did not want to see him.”
On May 3, the woman reportedly begged Mentzer to leave her alone during an hour-long phone conversation.
Mentzer was informed by the woman that she “did not wish to speak to him again” and “feared him and his escalating behavior.”
“I feel it is safer if there is space between and distance between us and to break the cycle of hurt,” she said in response to Mentzer’s reported persistent texts pleading to see her.
“I’ve been in meetings, I’m quite swamped today and I feel quite threatened and scared, please stop messaging [and] audio-noting me,” the woman texted Mentzer on May 7. The court heard that Mentzer continued to message the woman day and night.
When the woman booked into the QT Melbourne hotel later that evening, she learned of Mentzer’s purported attempt to be placed in the room next to hers.
Mentzer allegedly “requested” that their rooms be next to each other, according to the hotel manager.
The victim was escorted by staff to a different room on a different floor, the court heard.
According to Senior Constable Randle, Mentzer set up a spy camera in his room that faced the hotel hallway in a “attempt to capture footage of the victim.”
On the evening of May 7, the woman went out for a drink with a friend at Holy Grail bar on Chapel Street in Windsor (above).
Police claim they discovered video of the hotel corridor on Mentzer’s phone, even though the woman was unaware of the camera.
Additionally, Mentzer allegedly bombarded the woman “throughout the night” with eight phone calls, thirty text messages, and thirty audio notes.
Investigators allegedly found pictures of the QT hotel manager and a police officer “writing notes” at the Melbourne East police station on Mentzer’s phone.
On the evening of May 7, the woman went out for a drink with a friend at the Holy Grail bar on Chapel Street in Windsor.
In the photo booth, the two women snapped a picture, which the friend subsequently shared on Instagram.
The acquaintance allegedly “observed” Mentzer calling the woman a lot while she was at the bar.
The court heard that the next day, shortly after noon, the woman saw Mentzer outside her Melbourne CBD office building and made an unsuccessful attempt to enter without his seeing her.
Mentzer is being held at Ravenhall Correctional Center on remand (see above).
The court heard that she was able to enter a lift, but Mentzer allegedly pushed his hand in the doors to prevent them from shutting.
Mentzer allegedly shouted at the woman, saying he was “meeting lawyers and you won’t hear the last of me” and that she was “financially crippling” him.
The woman was “cowering in the back of the lift” with her “hands up, terrified” during Mentzer’s alleged outburst, Senior Constable Randle testified in court.
Shortly after he allegedly abandoned her in the elevator, the woman texted Mentzer, saying, “I am terrified of you.”
Police added that Mentzer looked “visibly shaken” after the woman reported her to them.
Later, she shared the Holy Grail photo that her buddy had uploaded to Instagram, but this is said to have led to further issues.
Later that evening, the companion went to the Jungle Boy bar in Windsor, the court heard, and the bartender informed her that a “male was frantically looking for her.” The bartender apparently verified that Mentzer was the man searching for her when she showed him a picture of him.
The bartender claimed that Mentzer had been “frantically searching for the girls” at various Chapel Street locations and had shown her an Instagram picture of the woman and her friend.
Mentzer allegedly made up a tale claiming that the “girls’ phones had died,” they were “really drunk,” and he was “worried about them.”
After an intensive investigation by Victoria Police, Mentzer was taken into custody on May 9.
According to the court, the woman’s friend was shocked when the bartender at the Jungle Boy club in Windsor (above) informed her that a “male was frantically looking for her.”
Mentzer allegedly hired a private investigator to “conduct surveillance” on the woman after investigators confiscated his phone.
The court heard that Mentzer, claiming to be the woman’s “current partner,” supplied the private investigator the alleged victim’s address, car details, and pictures.
On May 2, the court heard that the private investigator carried out “static surveillance” at the woman’s Sydney residence.
The private eye allegedly recorded the woman’s husband at the Sydney location without realizing the woman wasn’t Mentzer’s companion.
According to Senior Constable Randle, the private investigator had spoken with the police and given them important evidence.
Additionally, police reportedly discovered search results for the Chapel Street pub, secretly recorded images of the woman and her husband, and instructions and receipts for spy cameras.
“The contents of the phone show the accused is obsessed with the victim and he’s engaging in a pattern of behaviour to locate her,” Senior Constable Randle previously told the court, expressing concern that Mentzer posed a threat to the alleged victim. “Police are extremely concerned about his behaviour.”The majority of fatal family violence episodes have been proven to have had one or more of these risk indicators [supposedly demonstrated by Mentzer] recognized in the past, despite the fact that there is no reliable way to anticipate family violence homicide.
Mentzer poses “an unacceptable risk of imminently engaging in offending that severely jeopardises the safety and welfare of the victim,” according to Senior Constable Randle.
He stated, “The victim is afraid of the accused and his increasingly aggressive behavior, which has resulted from her trying to break up with him.”
Mentzer was placed under arrest by Magistrate Peter Reardon and will appear in court again on June 5.
