Tasmanian Supreme Court Justice Gregory Geeson pleaded guilty to breaching violence restraining order

Judge Gregory Peter Geeson, 63, was charged with three counts of knowingly breaching restrictions set out in an AVO in November this year.

He was visiting Sydney when he allegedly violated the court order.

On Friday, the Battery Point man pleaded guilty to one count of breaching an AVO restraining order.

The remaining two charges were dismissed without explanation.

Judge Geeson had intended to contest the charges at a four-day hearing in February next year.

However, those dates were canceled when he entered a guilty plea on Friday.

Instead, the 63-year-old will appear in the New Wales Local Court on December 13 for breaching the AVO.

The guilty plea comes just weeks after he was found guilty of assault and emotional abuse of a woman in Hobart Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrate Susan Wakeling found Judge Geeson had shaken the woman, punched her in the chest and pushed her with force, causing her to fall backwards and hit her head.

She also found he subjected the woman to emotional abuse or intimidation over a seven-month period, including by tracking her movements and pressuring her to sign a contract.

The Tasmanian Supreme Court judge will hand down the sentence on November 14.

He became the first judge in Tasmania in 200 years to be charged with criminal offences.

The 63-year-old was appointed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania in November 2017 after almost 40 years of legal practice.

Since the beginning of November last year, he has been on leave from performing his duties and has taken a signature on non-fulfilment of the judge’s powers to resolve issues.

Originally published as A Tasmanian Supreme Court judge pleaded guilty to breaching an AVO