A keyboard warrior has avoided spending time behind bars after he sent a series of menacing death threats referencing bullets and a noose to a Jewish organisation and an openly LGBTQI politician.
Craig Douglas Mitchell had the dubious honour of being the first person to be charged by a dedicated federal anti-Semitism task force formed following the firebombing of a synagogue.
He was linked in January 2025 to a social media account that made death threats to members of the Australian Jewish Association the previous year.
In a bid to stop members fronting a senate hearing, he sent an image of a hangman's noose and wrote: "If you dare show up at the senate you will all delta india echo".
The last three words signify the phonetic spelling of the word 'die'.
The same falsified Facebook account was linked to a number of death threats made to independent MP Alex Greenwich, which were peppered with slurs and a Nazi phrase.
The 45-year-old faced Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to five charges, including four counts of using a carriage service to threaten to kill.
He is a gaming enthusiast who went down an online rabbit hole where he was influenced by alt-right - particularly Nazi - ideologies, his lawyer Hannah Murphy said.
Mitchell has long-standing diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, anxiety and depression which make him isolated and vulnerable to obsessions, she said.
Ms Murphy pushed for her client to be spared jail time, pointing to his remorse for the threats.
Mitchell's expressions of regret failed to recognise the impact on his victims, Crown solicitor Tatiana Neumann-Murphy said.
Australian Jewish Association chief Robert Gregory was left anxious and worried about the safety of his family after receiving the threats.
"The threats caused me significant concern and distress", he wrote in a statement to the court.
The organisation was forced to bolster security measures, Mr Gregory said.
Mr Greenwich also feared for the safety of himself and his family due to the "brazen" threats on his social media page, prompting him to avoid public appearances.
"I have never been subject to such violent and visceral threats ever," he wrote in a statement to the court.
The MP said he felt his status as a gay man had been weaponised against him and revealed that he is in therapy for the trauma caused by the threats.
The slurs and references to a weapon and bullets "can only represent a man who had an intense hate" for people like Mr Greenwich, Magistrate Greg Grogin said.
"Nobody at any place, anywhere .. should ever be the subject of such horrific and vile threats," the magistrate said.
He rejected an application for the charges to be dealt with on mental health grounds and sentenced Mitchell to a 14-month jail term to be served in the community.
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