A neo-Nazi leader has been handed a community work order for intimidating a police officer and his wife. Thomas Sewell, 32, was found guilty on Friday of three charges of intimidation of a law enforcement officer and his wife, over targeted threats to expose their personal information.
Sewell threatened to “dox” the officer and his wife on podcasts in October and November last year, including threats to release wedding photos. “I’m working out how to dox him because those doxing laws haven’t come into effect yet,” he told a podcast. “Like his wedding photos, we’ve got it all downloaded, he’s a fucking idiot.”
The police officer gave evidence to Melbourne Magistrates Court about feeling “highly anxious” for his and his family’s safety. “I didn’t know what he was going to do with that information,” he said. The officer’s wife, in a statement, said she felt “really intimidated and threatened, I felt like we were in danger.”
Magistrate Michelle Hodgson rejected Sewell’s argument that he was holding police to account, finding he had “sought to weaponise personal information, personal insult and public exposure to instil fear” in the victims. She described the offending as “objectively very serious”, noting that “if police officers are intimidated from carrying out their duties … the justice system itself is undermined.”
Hodgson ordered Sewell to complete 200 hours of community work over 18 months, to commence once he is released from custody for separate offending. Sewell had self-represented in a contested hearing and was arrested outside court on the second day over an alleged attack on an Indigenous protest site.
