A Sydney man who allegedly made explicit rape threats on Facebook has pleaded not guilty to using a carriage service to menace.
Zane Alchin, 25, of Caringbah was charged in late October for allegedly threatening rape in comments posted to Facebook in August.
The offence of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence covers harassment carried out online or over the phone, and carries a maximum jail sentence of three years.
Alchin allegedly committed the offence after one of his friends shared a screenshot of a woman’s Tinder profile to his Facebook page with a derogatory caption, sparking a heated argument between the two individuals’ friend groups.
The posts allegedly made by Alchin include “You’ll be eating my cock till you puke” and “I’d rape you if you were better looking”.
He did not appear at the Newtown local court on Tuesday but his lawyer pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
He will return for a hearing on 1 March after a brief of evidence on 9 February.
Alchin had indicated he would plead not guilty when he appeared on 8 December.
Paloma Brierley Newton first reported Alchin to the police with a USB drive containing screenshots of his relevant Facebook comments, several of which had been addressed to her.
She formed an advocacy group, Sexual Violence Won’t Be Silenced, to campaign for better resources to tackle online harassment.
“The training needs to be way better,” she said. “The cop I spoke to didn’t even have Facebook – explaining to her the post, the reposting, the screenshotting, the comments, was harder than it needed to be.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s 2016. Literally everyone uses the internet. We shouldn’t have to start a media campaign.”
