Man who called on Facebook followers to shoot former PM Malcolm Turnbull faces court

A man who urged his Facebook followers to kill former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says violent video games and drug abuse fuelled the hateful tirade.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Dean Lewins

An “awful keyboard warrior” who asked his Facebook followers to assassinate former PM Malcolm Turnbull has blamed prescription medication and violent video games for his kill calls.

Matthew Robert Ainio, who also wanted Bendigo councillors executed, pleaded guilty to three offensive carriage service charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court today.

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The court heard the Oakleigh South 43-year-old had used his Facebook account to post extremely vitriolic comments about Mr Turnbull and the City of Greater Bendigo representatives.

He said he was angry and hurt because Tony Abbott had been “stabbed in the back” by Mr Turnbull.

In August 2017 he made a Facebook post asking if someone could assassinate Mr Turnbull, and in April last year he called on his page followers for someone to shoot the then PM.

He was also upset with the Bendigo council, and posted in April last year that the councillors should be killed.

Someone reported the posts to police and in May last year he was arrested.

He told police regarding the Bendigo charge that he “had been whipped up by Erikson’s posts”, referring to right wing advocate Neil Erikson’s mock Islamic beheading stunt.

Erikson was one of three far-right activists who staged a mock beheading outside the City of Bendigo offices in 2015 in protest at plans to build a mosque. They were convicted and fined.

Ainio said the PM threats were because he was a strong supporter of Mr Abbott and didn’t like the way Mr Turnbull had taken over the Liberal leadership.

The court heard Ainio was visibly upset when arrested, telling police he normally deleted his posts and he didn’t really think about their effects.

In court his defence lawyer said the “awful keyboard warrior” incidences, which were isolated to his own Facebook page, were fuelled by playing violent video games and prescription medication issues.

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She said he was remorseful, was receiving ongoing therapeutic treatment, and had now ceased all online social media activity.

Magistrate Jade Bott said the contents of the posts were “abhorrent”, and Ainio had “emotional regulation issues”, considering he served a suspended jail sentence 13 years ago for burning down an employer’s workplace.

She sent him to be assessed for a community corrections order, adjourning the case for sentencing on February 5.

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