United Patriots Front member Neil Erikson gives up fight against revulsion charge
A BIG-MOUTHED hate preacher has decided to cop his penalty for hate talking on the chin, but his leader will continue to fight the charge in a Melbourne court.
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UNITED Patriots Front leader Blair Cottrell will continue the fight to clear his name of hate speech charges alone after his mates left him holding the can.
Cottrell fronted the County Court today where an appeal date was set for next year.
But the court heard his alleged co-offender Neil Erikson had failed to lob into court a day earlier, thus abandoning his appeal.
Cottrell, 27, Erikson, 32, and Christopher Neil Shortis, 46, were each convicted and fined $2000 last month for knowingly engaging in conduct with the intention of inciting serious contempt for or revulsion of a class of people, namely Muslims, under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
The tough talking Erikson had previously been staunch in his defiance of the charge, calling on
Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton to appear at an earlier hearing at the magistrates’ court.
“They are corrupted. They have pushed for this case. They have pushed for us to be at court today. I think it’s a conspiracy against right-wing politics and conservative values,” he said at the time.
The men were the first to be convicted of the crime since the Act came into force in 2001.
They were charged in 2015 after they made a video protesting the construction of a mosque in Bendigo in which they beheaded a dummy with a toy sword and spilt fake blood on the footpath outside Bendigo City Council offices.
In finding the men guilty, Magistrate John Hardy condemned their behaviour, declaring they had each “crossed the line”.
At the end of last month’s hearing, each of the men claimed they would appeal their convictions.
A County Court spokesman said the court still had no record of Shortis ever lodging an appeal.
The wannabe politician had been highly critical of the government throughout his court proceeding.
On conviction, he maintained he did not recognise the little-used law and complained that people had mocked his Christian faith without recourse.
“A court of law is not a place for hurt feelings,” he said.
Today’s appearance by Cottrell drummed-up none of the drama seen at previous hearings.
On those occasions, city streets needed to be blocked-off to accommodate scores of protesters and television reporters jostled with Cottrell’s supporters outside court.
Cottrell’s appearance today attracted no more than three reporters, with not a single UPF supporter in attendance.
Cottrell initially missed the hearing, which was promptly struck out by Judge Barbara Cotterell.
But the UPF frontman arrived shortly after and he was allowed to continue the appeal.
He told the court he was in the process of seeking new lawyers.
It remains unclear on what grounds Cottrell hopes to run his appeal.
