A 51-year-old Ballarat man, who sent racist death threats via email to senator Fatima Payman, has been sentenced by a Victorian court.
Sean David Sharman, pleaded guilty in June to using a carriage service to make a threat to kill.
On Monday, Ballarat magistrate Julia Barling handed Sharman a criminal conviction and sentenced him to an 18-month community corrections order.
“I want to make it very clear that this is not a light touch, this is a matter that the court is taking very seriously, and you need to take the order that I’m imposing today very seriously,” Magistrate Barling said to Sharman, adding that the contents of his email were “so offensive” and “disgusting”.
“Had you come before the court with prior convictions, I would have been minded to sentence you to a jail term,” she said.
The court heard that senator Payman was left feeling scared and deeply unsettled after receiving the threats.
In a post to social media, Payman addressed the court sentencing, writing: “Hatred and racism has no place in Australia. Keyboard warriors be warned! You’re not invincible.”
Magistrate Barling said Sharman’s email was clearly targeting Senator Payman’s gender, race and religion.
Sharman also claimed to not remember sending the email, but Magistrate Barling pointed out that it contained no spelling mistakes and looked like it was carefully written.
The email read: “Call me Racist all you want c**t. But there is a 38Cal with your name on it coming for your Muslim hateful waste of oxygen c**t head VERY SOON.”
“You and your Muslim lot should go back to the desert, you lot have destroyed Australia.”
It’s understood that the 38Cal refers to a .38 calibre bullet, and Sharman called senator Payman “a domestic terrorist” as well.
As part of his community corrections order, Sharman is required to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse and mental health issues.
Magistrate Barling said she was concerned about the increasing prevalence of “keyboard warriors being willing to locate people’s contact details” and send threats.
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