A Kambah man has pleaded guilty to stalking his partner, after it was alleged he had a GPS tracker and microphone installed in her car while she was out of town.
The man faces several other charges involving his partner including assault, attempted rape and breaches of a domestic violence order in a series of allegations that go back to 2011.
The 67-year-old appeared briefly in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he has pleaded guilty to all charges except the attempted rape, for which he was committed to stand trial.
It's alleged that in August 2016, after offering to help make minor repairs to his partner's car while she was interstate, the man had the tracker installed.
He had bought a sim card to put in the tracking device, which when called would text back with the car's latitude and longitude.
The numbers could be plugged into Google maps.
When she returned, a friend had told the woman she suspected a tracking device had been put in her car. The partner told police he had used surveillance on her before.
When officers later inspected the car, they found the tracking device as well an audio microphone in the footwell of the car, connected to the device.
The device was connected to the car's wiring system, through a drilled hole in the firewall that allowed the wires to run into the engine bay under the hood.
The woman had a domestic violence order made against her former partner in August 2016. Documents tendered to the court say he later breached that order by contacting the woman, or trying to get others to contact her on his behalf, multiple times.
The man is alleged to have referred to his partner in phone calls with a pseudonym, or referred to her as a "bloke" as a "crude form of code", court documents say.
He was arrested on September 15, 2016, after voluntarily taking himself to the City Police Station.
In another allegation described in a police statement of facts, on December 22, 2011, at the couple's home in Kambah, the man is said to have attempted to force a phone into the woman's mouth.
It's alleged he then crawled onto the bed and used his forearm to push into her chest, and a hand to cover her mouth and nose, leaving her unable to breathe.
The incident ended when he suddenly got up and left.
On December 20, 2015, it's alleged the man had gone into the woman's bedroom - they were sleeping in different rooms - and pinned her to the bed.
Court documents say the woman had told the man she didn't want to have sex, to which he replied: "Well I do."
She told police she screamed loudly to alert someone, and resisted the man by kicking her legs wildly and attempting to push him off, the documents say.
After a while, he let go and left the room.
Court documents say the woman told the 67-year-old that evening the relationship was over and asked him to leave the house. It's alleged he refused, and continued to stay despite her repeated requests to leave.
The man, who is in custody, has pleaded not guilty to attempted sexual intercourse without consent, and on Tuesday Magistrate Bernadette Boss committed him to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court on that charge.
He has pleaded guilty to the remaining charges, of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking and eight counts of contravening a protection order. Dr Boss sent these matters to the higher court for sentencing.
The case is due to appear in the ACT Supreme Court for directions next week.