Sydney Man To Be Sentenced After Pleading Guilty To Facebook Harassment
Monday 11 July 2016 @ 10.14 a.m. | Crime | IP & Media
Sydney man Zane Alchin has pled guilty to one charge of using a carriage service to menace after he was accused of sending rape threats to a group of women on Facebook. Initially, the case was thought to be a cyber-bullying test case, as he initially pled not guilty to the charge in Newtown Local Court. However, in June this year he changed his plea to guilty, with a sentencing hearing now scheduled for 29 July 2016.
Background to the Case
A friend of Mr Alchin’s had taken a screenshot of a Tinder profile belonging to Sydney woman Olivia Melville and posted it to Facebook, where it was widely shared. Ms Melville received a number of abusive online messages, as did a friend who defended her, Ms Brierly Newton. After Mr Alchin posted more than 50 ‘explicit and derogatory’ comments on Facebook in a two-hour period, Ms Brierly Newton reported him to police.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the women claimed the police initially “offered little support to our case”, and they began a Facebook group called “Sexual Violence Won’t Be Silenced”, which gained more than 8000 followers.
Mr Alchin was charged in October last year, with news reports saying he told police that he was drunk at the time he posted the comments and believed he was internet trolling “a group of feminists who were harassing me and my friends”. In May, his lawyer suggested the case would revolve around an argument as to whether the internet was a carriage service. However, with the change to a guilty plea, Mr Alchin now faces a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
Responding to the news of the guilty plea, Ms Brierly Newton told The Guardian Australia:
“Our victory today sends a message to all women that they don’t have to put up with harassment online, that there are steps and channels they can take, and that Australian law is on their side.”
Using a Carriage Service to Menace, Harass Or Cause Offence
Mr Alchin was charged under section 474.17 of the Criminal Code (Cth), which is:
474.17 Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person uses a carriage service; and
(b) the person does so in a way (whether by the method of use or the content of a communication, or both) that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.
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