A registered sex offender from Bendigo who created fake social media profiles to harass former Hey Dad! star Sarah Monahan has avoided jail.
Luke James Wallis, 34, was given a three-month suspended jail term for one charge of transmitting child pornography when he posted material on Monahan's Facebook account.
He was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service for using a communications service to "menace" Monahan between June and August last year.
In sentencing him in Melbourne's County Court, Judge Irene Lawson described the material and the comments he posted as "vile and despicable".
She said Wallis had exploited the anonymity of the internet and set out to get people "riled up" by using "some names associated with past serious sexual offenders".
In an earlier hearing, Wallis admitted to writing under fake names, such as 'Mr Kelly', in a series of messages on Monahan's Facebook page.
Kelly was the surname of the family at the centre of Hey Dad!
Wallis is a registered sex offender, and was convicted in 2013 for possession of child pornography.
Impact of offending 'great': Judge
Monahan revealed in 2010 she had been abused by a man while working as a child actor on the popular 1980s Australian television show.
Her co-star Robert Hughes was later convicted of 10 offences committed against several girls, and was jailed in 2014 for at least six years.
In 2016, Monahan released a memoir and said the abuse she suffered was also at the hands of Hughes.
The court heard Monahan, who played the daughter of Hughes' character, suffered from depression and was angered by the comments and had difficulty sleeping as a result of the online harassment.
"The impact of the offending has been great," Judge Lawson told him as she read out her sentencing report.
"She was just starting to get her life back to normal … when she started receiving your messages."
Judge Lawson imposed a three-year community corrections order which requires Wallis to undertake supervised mental health treatment.
