Australia: man sentenced for harassing his ex-partner via Tesla app

The separation had ended their life together, but not his access to the car. In Sydney (Australia), Enrico Pucci, 50, used the Tesla application to harass his former partner, even remotely changing the temperature of the cabin and limiting the speed of the vehicle. Parramatta Local Court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison, including fifteen months before any possibility of parole, for thirty offenses relating to domestic violence. He had pleaded guilty.

And for good reason... The story reported by the Guardian, based on police documents included in the file, begins with three alarms in the middle of the night. Stacey, a real name, thinks that her ex-partner - from whom she has been separated for a few weeks - is damaging her car, but she doesn't dare go out. The next day, she noticed no damage. But the dashboard has been reset and a parental control profile added. She will only discover this detail later, on November 1, 2025.

Assistance turns to control

Three days, Pucci follows her in the car and asks her about a man she is seeing. “I’m in your car. I’m in your cards,” he tells her, according to police documents. Digital access goes back to when they bought the Tesla when they were still together. Faced with his difficulties using the technology, he offered his help, provided that the vehicle was registered in his name. She had accepted for this sole purpose.

The promised assistance becomes a means of control. Between November 6 and 12, 2025, Pucci alternates temperature settings between extreme cold and heat. Investigators also report the activation of a mode which would have limited the speed to 40 km/h, creating a danger on the road. They identify seven attempts to disconnect the charging port from the application. Stacey no longer had control over the settings of her own vehicle.

Keys are no longer everything

This case raises a question: who controls the connected functions of a car when the couple separates? Tesla plans to delete a driver from its application. But its documentation specifies that an additional driver cannot take away the rights of another user. The account to which the car is attached therefore counts as much as the person behind the wheel.

The problem also goes beyond the American brand. As early as December 2025, the Australian online safety authority, eSafety, alerted to reports of violent partners consulting journey histories, locking doors or changing the heating remotely. It asks manufacturers for a procedure allowing access to be revoked upon separation, without contact with the other person, as well as a viewable history of remote commands. Recovering the keys is no longer enough, you still need to recover access.