Warning: This article contains mentions of anti-LGBTQIA+ violence.
A NSW man has sentenced to jailed for nine months after being found guilty of making death threats to the staff of the ABC program Q+A.
David William Wonnocott, pleaded guilty to the charges after telling police that he was offended by the amount of times the program mentioned LGBTIQA+ communities.
The charity worker from Banora Point told police he “wanted them to stop spruiking this fucking community.”
The Daily Telegraph has reported that Wonnocott appeared before Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy in the Tweed Heads Local Court on Friday, where he was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass, or offend.
The magistrate said Wonnocott has used a public forum and wrote “QnA should be shut down, you c**ts keep supporting the LGBT community and I will kill you all”.
After he was arrested he told police that he didn’t agree with the ‘LGBT community’ and he wanted to scare the staff making the current affairs discussion program. A submission from Wonnocott’s lawyer said the LGBT community went against his religious beliefs.
The magistrate said that was irrelevant, and most members of the community were supportive of the ‘LGBT community’ and found homophobia and transphobia offensive.
He said the accused was someone who had a history of intimidating people and using a carriage service to menace or harass people. He was sentenced to nine months imprisonment with a three month non-parole period.
The sentence was immediately appealed and Wonnocott was granted bail. The court ruled he must follow and mental health plan and not access social media.
Q+A host Hamish MacDonald quit his hosting role on the show earlier this year. In interviews leading up to his resignation MacDonald spoke about the barrage of abuse he’d received on social media while presenting the program.
OIP Staff
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