Internet troll avoids jail time after posting sexist, derogatory comments on Facebook

UPDATE: July 29, 2016, 3:34 p.m. AEST  Sydney man Zane Alchin has been awarded a 12-month good behaviour bond Friday, after writing offensive and threatening comments on Facebook

The 25-year-old wrote explicit and abusive comments about Olivia Melville, after his friend took screenshots of the young woman's Tinder profile and uploaded them on the social media platform. After recently pleading guilty to charges of using a carriage service to harass multiple women, including Olivia's friend, Alchin received the news that he won't face jail time according to the ABC. 

Alchin told police in October he didn't realise there was anything criminal about "internet trolling" and that he was drunk, so y'know, he couldn't control his actions. 

During the reading out of the decision, Magistrate William Pierce caused chatter among courtroom attendants when he said Melville's Tinder profile contained a "somewhat inflammatory comment of a sexual nature anyway." Um. Not cool, guy.

The series of events began in August when a man posted a screenshot of Olivia Melville's Tinder profile on his Facebook page, which included Drake's lyric: "The type of girl that will suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you."

Alchin posted dozens of explicit, sexist and derogatory comments under the photo. He then started targeting Melville's friend, Newton, who called out Alchin's behaviour by reposting his comments on the social media platform. She then reported him to police. 

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The Guardian reported that, according to court documents, Alchin said he was drunk at the time and the comments don't represent who he really is. 

Following the guilty plea in a Sydney court, Newton said she was angry that Alchin had attempted to use being drunk as an excuse to speak in such a disgusting way to women online. 

"I think young men need to stop saying that they are not responsible for their actions because of alcohol when so often young female victims of sexual assault are questioned about how much they have had to drink before the assault," Newton told Mashable Australia.

In her comments, Newton hinted at the recent Stanford University case rape case, in which swimmer Brock Turner made a number of excuses -- including being drunk -- for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster on university grounds. 

"I drink, my friends drink, my male friends drink, I'm sure some of my male friends who are really good at swimming and who are labourers drink but you know what they don't do? They don't rape women," she wrote on Facebook.

"Alcohol is not the problem, the attitude men have gotten away with towards women, that's the problem. Young men need to start taking some responsibility for their own actions and behaviour."

It is hoped the case will set a precedent for dealing with online abuse in Australia. Newton also hopes the next step is better police training so that online harassment cases are taken seriously and treated as a crime. 

"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," Newton's advocacy group, Sexual Violence Won't Be Silenced, wrote on Facebook.

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