A Melbourne magistrate has condemned neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell for emulating “Nazi thugs of 1930s Berlin” during a stunt outside the Chinese consulate in which he used “appalling racial slurs”. Sewell, 33, was found guilty of offensive behaviour and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order, including 200 hours of unpaid work.
The court heard that Sewell used a megaphone to direct a group dressed in black with faces covered, wielding a large sign bearing a racist slur against Asian people. The leader of the now-defunct National Socialist Network claimed the incident was free speech, but Magistrate Patrick Southey dismissed this, describing the offending as “repugnant”.
“This was unmistakably a neo-Nazi gathering,” Southey said. “The footage was chilling, his utterances repugnant, and this court has no doubt that any reasonable person passing would have been appalled.” The magistrate noted that Sewell and his group made threats to hang someone, and that the imagery “brought to mind the Ku Klux Klan”.
Southey told Sewell, who is New Zealand-born, that Australia was a tolerant society “welcoming to immigrants like you”. Sewell responded: “No, I think you find that Australia was founded on the racism that you want to criminalise.”
Prosecutor Alex Turner did not seek a jail term but requested a “punitive” community work order. The court imposed 200 hours of unpaid community work as part of the 18-month order.
