Scott locked mum-of-two Jodie on a 10th floor hotel balcony during a row over texts to her ex. Moments later she was dead. Now a judge has delivered a bombshell decision
A man who locked his partner on a hotel balcony, which she fell to her death from, won’t be jailed for her fatal 10-storey fall.
Mother-of-two Jodie Lovell died after falling from the 10th floor at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
She had 20 minutes earlier been locked on the balcony by partner Scott Andrew Minigle, who did so to look through the 45-year-old’s phone undisturbed.
The court heard Ms Lovell was ‘crying and distressed’ before she went over the balcony’s edge.
Minigle on Thursday learned he would not be jailed for the May, 2020 incident and would likely receive a community corrections order with an alcohol condition.
He earlier pleaded guilty to a single domestic violence charge of detaining with intent to obtain an advantage, relating to his phone access.
In an earlier admission, Minigle said he had found messages between Ms Lovell and her former lover.
‘I actually got her phone… was going through her texts, just being stupid, and I came across some from a bloke,’ Minigle told the court.
Mother-of-two Jodie Lovell died after falling from a 10th-floor balcony at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Sydney’s city centre in May, 2020
Ms Lovell’s partner, Scott Andrew Minigle (pictured), admitted to locking her on the hotel balcony so he could search her phone
‘They were a bit suggestive. That’s what stirred the plot.’
He further admitted the couple had a tumultuous relationship and that he was jealous after reading the messages but insisted that he never wanted to harm her.
Minigle claimed that he locked Ms Lovell on the balcony to let her ‘cool her heels’ before they continued discussing the messages.
Justice Sarah Huggett said it would be an error to find the threshold for jail time had been crossed and the ‘ultimate harm’ could not feature in Minigle’s penalty.
‘I am in no way wishing to minimise the tragedy,’ the NSW District Court chief judge said.
‘But in fact what he is being sentenced for is detaining his female partner on a balcony for 20 minutes.
‘She hadn’t gone there to seek refuge.’
Minigle, 52, was due to be sentenced on Thursday but that was delayed after the court was told of his difficulty with alcohol and accessing rehabilitation services.
Justice Sarah Huggett said it would be an error to find Minigle (pictured) had crossed the threshold for jail time
Justice Huggett intends to impose an alcohol order Minigle when he faces court for sentencing on April 24 (pictured, the Hyatt Regency hotel where Ms Lovell fell)
Justice Huggett, wanting to impose a good-behaviour bond with ‘more meaningful’ conditions related to alcohol, said it was in the interests of the community that he be provided more time to find a bed in residential rehabilitation.
‘I understand that causes further apprehension for everyone in court – I am very aware of that,’ she said.
‘I … feel that in all the circumstances, a sentence does have to be imposed that does contain conditions that are more meaningful and deal with the issues that arise in this matter in regards to alcohol.’
Minigle declined to speak to reporters as he left court.
He is due to be sentenced on April 24, or earlier if he can access a rehab bed before then.
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