Going viral: Southeast court cases that went wild online
A nunchuck wielder, a ‘meme’ chopping board flinger and a traffic-stopping hoon are among stories that lit up social media.
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Certain cases hit a nerve with the public, taking on an online life of their own due to the violence, the notoriety, the attitude or the strangeness of the defendants. Here are six southeast suburban court yarns that went viral.
Nunchuck vigilante
Fifteen minutes of TV fame came back to haunt this video vigilante after cops came-a-calling to his Cranbourne home.
James William Read was featured on A Current Affair trying to scare home invaders by proudly displaying his nunchuck-wielding technique.
Which was woeful, laughable and, as it turns out, self-incriminating.
Cops had watched the program about his group known as “No Fear” and searched his house, finding several sets of illegal nunchucks and a pronged baton.
Read told officers the implements were old martial arts training aids belonging to his son.
He said he was not happy with what he perceived to be a lack of police action regarding aggravated burglaries in the area, and he needed to protect himself.
He said “he wasn’t hunting anyone down or anything”.
The magistrate said if Read had been caught using the weapons in the street he would have been jailed.
“You should get an alarm, or a dog, or something like that,” he said.
Instead he was let off with a good behaviour bond — and a place in online history.
Chopping board ‘meme’
A far-right identity and self-proclaimed journalist received the wrong type of online attention when he became “almost a meme” for attacking his former wife.
Avi Yemini pleaded guilty to unlawful assault after admitting he flung a chopping board at the woman, hitting her in the head, in a dispute over preparing a meal.
He was also convicted of using a carriage service to harass but several other charges, including recklessly causing injury, were dropped.
The woman told a court Yemini had “broken her spirit” and “destroyed her self-worth”.
His defence lawyer said he didn’t intend to hit her with the chopping board and it was an isolated incident across 10 years of a volatile relationship.
“The digital material has been absolutely brutal about my client,” she said.
“It’s become almost a meme, humiliating my client over and over.”
Yemini was an Israeli soldier but is now working as “Australia Bureau Chief” for a crowdfunded online media organisation.
He was convicted and fined a total of $3600.
Coward puncher
The sickening story of a violent thug who coward-punched a complete stranger, laughing as he walked away, caused a massive reaction in the online world.
Ryan Wells’ unprovoked booze-fuelled attack in a Frankston street was caught on CCTV and replayed extensively on TV news and Facebook feeds.
Parts of his case had to be suppressed because the courts feared the community may take action against him.
Wells was seen walking past the victim before he launched a vicious assault and dropped him to the ground.
The outrage was so wide even the Premier got involved, labelling the assault as “sickening”.
The magistrate said it was an intolerable attack on a completely defenceless man.
“The force used was so significant he (the victim) was knocked clean off the ground,” he said.
“It was sheer luck it did not result in a coward-punch homicide.”
Wells was jailed for six months and given a corrections order.
‘Yeah, sweet’
Not many people are happy when they get jailed, nor do they shadow box or yawn as their future is being decided.
But couldn’t care-less crook Micah Graham doesn’t act like the usual crim, as social media users pointed out in a Facebook story read by tens of thousands of intrigued online readers.
During the hearing he yawned at the magistrate, stood up and shadow boxed in the prison media room.
When told he will be given more time behind bars to think about his crimes, his response was to smirk and say “yeah, sweet” and “alright, see ya” as he left the room.
His defence lawyer said Graham had drug issues and was easily led when he mixed with the wrong crowd, although “he was not beyond redemption”.
The magistrate said his prospects of rehabilitation had “some bleakness about them”.
Graham was jailed for 18 months with a non-parole period of 12 months, fined $2600 and banned from driving.
‘S***, I’ll do a burnout’
Hundreds of online comments and thousands of Facebook reactions are small solace when you’re in jail and can’t read them.
The apprentice mechanic was also caught with shotgun cartridges and drugs after cops raided his Hallam home.
When he was arrested he told police he had attended a car meet which he described as “s***”, so thought “I’ll do a burnout”.
He said he knew there were people around and he was a “f***head” for doing what he did.
His defence lawyer said he “self-medicated” with drugs which then led him to engage “in reckless behaviour” and “impulsive decision-making”.
Scordo also had his burnout beast, which he valued at $24,000 but cops thought was a $1000 banger, forfeited to the Crown.
He was jailed for a total of six months.
Ice queen
Online readers appreciated the entrepreneurial aspect — and perhaps the irony — of someone caught selling drugs at a shopping centre.
Lily Leigh Jebson called herself an actor, model, photographer, hair stylist, makeup artist and fashionista.
But in reality she was an ice queen who sold drugs out of a stolen car parked at Moorabbin DFO.
She had come to the attention of cops because she was seen loitering around the complex and going back and forth to a blue Mercedes.
When police arrived they searched the car and found drug money, ice, digital scales and deal bags.
When Jebson unlocked her phone officers saw a series of messages indicating she had been selling.
The court heard she has a drug-dealing rap sheet and was on a corrections order for similar offending at the time.
Jebson was jailed for four months.
