Chaos erupts before Daniel Andrews treason accusation case

A man who brought treason accusations against Premier Daniel Andrews has threatened to charge “everyone” involved in the case after it was thrown out of court.

The chiropractor whose treason case against Premier Daniel Andrews was struck out has threatened to charge “everyone” involved in the court case.

Anthony Herman’s private prosecution against the state’s leader was thrown out of the Myrtleford Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The court confirmed about 950 people logged on to the online hearing link.

Magistrate Peter Dunn struck out the case with his order reading: “Charge issued not served”.

Anthony Herman. Picture: Instagram

In a video posted to his wife Shelley’s social media account, the Bright chiropractor speaks to a crowd on a microphone following the dismissed court case and says “we will not give up”.

“What we have witnessed today here is horrendous corruption again and what we have witnessed is perverting the course of justice,” he told the crowd.

“Everyone in that Myrtleford courthouse who has been involved in this today will be charged — we’ll be charging them at that court house.”

Mr Herman is understood to be threatening further private prosecutions, where a member of the public can pay $85.70 and lay charges against any person.

Mr Herman said he had charged Mr Andrews with “concealing treason” and “they (the court) are doing that, too”.

“We can’t accept that anymore as people.”

His wife, Shelley, took to social media in the hours and days before the court case, sharing the court’s WebEx link, which ended up being swarmed by hundreds of people.

“Could not be prouder to be on this journey with Herm and all the wonderful people that want the world to be a better place for our children and their children,” Mrs Herman wrote on Instagram.

“The link to the WebEx on Herm’s court case against Daniel Andrew’s (sic) is in my bio,” read the post.

She also shared a photo a day earlier of a court notice that read, “All courts remain open and are hearing most matters online”.

Anthony Herman speaks after the case was thrown out of Myrtleford Magistrates Court. Picture: Instagram

Anthony Herman tells onlookers ‘we will not give up’. Picture: Instagram

“Does it seem strange that for the very month that Dan Andrew’s (sic) has to appear in court they are not allowing it to be in person — it has to be via WebEx — although tomorrow all the unvaxxed can go Xmas shopping!” the post read.

“The corruption is so deep it’s embarrassing. Just following orders they say.”

Alongside the video of her husband speaking to the crowd, Mrs Herman wrote a post claiming the court case was struck out “based on a clear perversion of justice” and a “disgusting ploy by Dan’s team”.

“Herm was ‘apparently’ asked to speak numerous times but didn’t respond???” she wrote.

“We sat watching the WebEx for an hour waiting for the magistrate to speak.

“No-one came on to ask anything.”

Mr Herman told the Herald Sun he “never heard a word” of the case and the court wanted him to pay $55 for a transcript.

COURT CHAOS ERUPTS

Earlier the court case over accusations of treason against Mr Andrews descended into a complete circus when hundreds of people swamped the online court link.

Participants were heard swearing, shouting conspiracy theories, laughing and urging the “host” to mute all the wayward members as the matter was ended before it even began in the Myrtleford Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning.

Mr Andrews had been called to court over accusations of treason brought in a private prosecution by citizen Anthony Herman, who was seen on the link wearing a collared shirt.

At 10.30am, half an hour after the case was supposed to begin, the court’s staff wrote to hundreds of participants and notified them that the matter was over before anything had been uttered.

“To advise everyone the matter of Andrews has now been finalised,” court staff wrote.

Earlier, one member who called themselves @realdanandrews, took over the court’s screen, sharing a doctored image of Mr Andrews appearing to be dressed as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

A court case against Premier Daniel Andrews descended into chaos. Picture: Paul Jeffers

“Is Dan Andrews on this call, can I talk to Dan Andrews,” one man asked the court.

Another person, who labelled themselves as “Dan Andrews”, wrote on the court’s chat function: “I’m here to however (sic) asked!”

Hundreds of people messaged each other continuously via the court’s public Webex chat function.

For more than 40 minutes, an incessant beeping noise indicated a constant stream of participants joining as confused people asked what the sound was.

It appeared to be a co-ordinated group on the link, as participants spoke to each other over the court’s audio and chat function.

“Can everyone just be professional, watch your language, this is a courtroom,” one woman urged others.

“We don’t want to give these guys any excuse to kick us off the link,” another man said.

The link heard participants from the US had joined, while one person wrote in the chat function and asked, “What time is it in Victoria?”

“OK I’m in Queensland but I have family in Victoria suffering from these difficult times,” another wrote.

A man with an American accent shouted, “You can’t even kick someone out of an app — no wonder you f---ed up a pandemic.”

Another said: “How deep do those Chinese pockets go Dan, how deep do they go?”

One woman asked who the host of the meeting was and a man replied it was the Magistrates’ Court. “Well that’s interesting”, she replied.

The case — which was struck out on Friday morning — exposed the little-known power where private citizens can pay $85.70 and bring a charge against another person, as in the early days of the justice system in the king’s court.

Mr Andrews, who is on leave for a summer break, was not expected to appear while the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecution was understood to be appearing as a friend to the court.

The CDPP has the power to take over and dismiss a private prosecution if it deems the case has no merit or was not in the public interest.