Zane Alchin, the 25-year-old man who made vile sexually explicit and threatening comments to a woman on Facebook, has today been handed a 12-month good behaviour bond for his crimes.
Alchin had previously pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace, threaten, or offend, and was today handed the sentence in a short hearing at Newtown Local Court.
Magistrate William Pierce handed down the sentence after the court heard Alchin had, over a two hour period, directed a high number of sexually explicit and violent threats at 25-year-old Olivia Melville, whose Tinder profile had been screenshotted and posted to Facebook by a friend of Alchin’s, and was subsequently shared thousands of times.
The good behaviour bond is recorded as a conviction on his criminal record, and Melville was present in court for the sentencing; a verdict she welcomed and accepted, expressing relief that the ordeal was finally over.
That’s the good part of this story.
Now for the not-quite-so-good.
Alchin’s solicitor Sophie Walsh defended her client, stating he was not a troll, and had consumed a large amount of alcohol at the time of the offence (which took place at 11:30am, mind you). Walsh also claimed that this whole ordeal had, in fact, flipped the script and turned Alchin’s life upside-down, to the point now where it is he who is the true victim.
“The irony is that he has become a much greater victim than the crime he committed.”
Meanwhile Magistrate Pierce suggested that Alchin’s threatening comments were akin to a game of football where a few bumps and scrapes are the norm.
“Your comments were the equivalent of socking someone in the jaw.”
Paloma Brierley Newton, who was also involved in the original online dispute, praised the verdict but criticised the handling of the case by Magistrate Pierce, with what’s probably a better summation of all this mess than we could ever come up with.
“My reaction is that we got the result that I think was appropriate to the situation. The way that it was handled by the judge is questionable. The fact that he (Alchin) said raping a feminist was better because they’re 100 times tighter is disgusting. The fact that he can get away with saying that because he had half a bottle of bourbon at 11:30am is disgusting.”
“I hope that we set a precedent to men that we have to stop putting women down. Punching down is not ok.”
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
Violence against women is never acceptable. If you or someone you know is experiencing physical or sexual abuse, calls can be made 24 hours a day on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) to the National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line, or to Lifeline on 13 11 14. More information is available at www.whiteribbon.org.au.
