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Published in News

Online Vigilantes publish 'arsonist's' image

by on16 February 2009

Image

Law and a fair trial not likely

 

An Aussie bloke who is accused of starting the fires that killed 11 people and doing massive amounts of damage has been pictured on the Internet. Brendan Sokaluk, 39, has been charged with arson causing death, relating to 11 deaths, and one count of possessing child pornography after the Churchill bushfire.

However Australian law means that to get a fair trial the press are not allowed to print a picture of the bloke or supply his name and address. Facebook vigilantes, frustrated at a court order have published his photograph and address on the social networking site and threatened his life.

Victoria Police has contacted Facebook seeking the removal of the details and urged people to let police do their job. But two Facebook groups have been created to name and shame the alleged arsonist, and thousands of Facebook users have joined in.

However a legal expert has warned that the publisher of Facebook and its users may be at risk of defamation or contempt proceedings over comments posted on the sites.

There is another small matter that the courts might be forced to let  Sokaluk free because of the vigilantes actions. This is particularly the case if there were any matters relating to identification of him at a crime scene.  Also his lawyers could argue that the Facebook posts make it impossible for him to receive a fair trial and he would be exposed to considerable danger if he was sent to prison.

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