Man charged with ‘hate’ campaign against teen sex accuser from 2012

A man has been charged with running a social media hate campaign against a woman he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting a decade ago.

A man has been charged with using social media to intimidate and harass a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her years ago. Picture: AFP

A man has been charged with running a social media hate campaign against a woman more than a decade after he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting her, back when she was just a teenager.

The 43-year-old man allegedly used Facebook, YouTube and his mobile phone to intimidate and harass the woman —— as well as police officers involved in the initial case — over the past week.

The incident has been made even more shocking by the fact a court has prevented media from reporting the ­alleged attacker’s name.

The Daily Telegraph understands a non-publication and suppression order intended to protect the identity of the woman was sought by the ­prosecution, and then extended to also protect the accused at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.

NSW Police will allege that, in the past week, the man on three occasions broadcasted the woman’s name in breach of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act.

Under the law it is illegal to broadcast the name of an ­individual and their links to criminal proceedings if they were a child at the time.

Police further allege that, in between doing this, the man also used his mobile phone to menace and harass.

At one point on April 5, they allege, he illegally installed a ­recording device to record a private conversation he was ­involved in without consent of the other person.

In total, the man was charged with seven offences, three of them relating to breaching the Children Act, a further three relating to using a carriage service to menace or harass, and the final charge of installing the listening device.

Police allege all these offences occurred between April 2 and April 8 in his home suburb of Chester Hill, in Sydney’s southwest.

NSW Police said detectives from Bankstown Police Area Command began investigating the man after being alerted to the posts on social media ­targeting the woman.

Officers raided his home about 9.15pm on Saturday and executed a search warrant, seizing documents, electronic devices and several items of clothing for further examination and forensic testing.

The man was refused police bail before facing Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday, where he was released on strict conditional bail.

He is next due to return to court on Thursday, April 20.
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