Neo-Nazis Thomas Sewell and Jacob Hersant spared further jail time in Court of Appeal

A push for two neo-Nazis to be sentenced to further jail time for an attack on a group of hikers in a national park has been rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Neo-Nazis Thomas Sewell and Jacob Hersant have escaped further jail time after a court dismissed an appeal over the pair’s sentences for a terrifying group attack.

Sewell, 31, and Hersant, 25, walked free from the County Court late last year with convictions of violent behaviour towards hikers at the Cathedral Ranges State Park on May 8, 2021.

Hersant was sentenced to 200 hours of community service after spending three days in jail, while Sewell, who had spent more than six months on remand, was sentenced to 37 days recognised as time served.

Sewell, leader of the European Australian Movement, and Hersant, leader of the National Socialist Network, were among 25 males gathered in the national park wearing balaclavas and black Celtic cross T-shirts the day of the attack.

Six hikers were set upon by the neo-Nazi group, including Sewell and Hersant, who kicked and punched their vehicle as they tried to leave.

Melbourne neo-Nazi leaders Thomas Sewell outside court. Picture: Liam Beatty

Chief crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane, KC, last month told the Court of Appeal the sentences were “manifestly inadequate” given the seriousness of the offending, which carries a 10-year maximum penalty.

“Our submission is this was a serious example of the offence of violent disorder. This must have been terrifying offending for the victims who were a completely innocent group,” Mr Kissane said.

On Tuesday, Justices Karen Emerton, Maree Kennedy and Christopher Boyce dismissed both appeals, upholding the decision of sentencing judge Kellie Blair.

“We have concluded that the appeal against Mr Sewell’s sentence must be dismissed consistently with the concessions made by the Director of Public Prosecutions,” Justice Emerton said on Tuesday.

“The judge was entitled to treat the more than six months imprisonment he served on remand in solitary confinement as part of the punishment for his offending.”

However the judges found Hersant’s sentence was manifestly inadequate and he did deserve more jail time.

“The fact is that, notwithstanding his youth, Mr Hersant’s offending called for a custodial sentence and one of sufficient duration not only to punish him but, also, to send a message out into the community that offending of this nature will not be tolerated and will be met with condign punishment,” a judgement summary read.

“Indeed, even Mr Hersant was prepared to accept a sentence at the sentence indication hearing which would have seen him serve a month in jail.

Jacob Hersant has escaped further jail time after a court dismissed an appeal over the pair’s sentences for a terrifying group attack. Picture: supplied

Justice Emerton said despite this, locking him up again would be “counterproductive”.

“We formed the view that it would be counterproductive to return this person to prison at this point,” Justice Emerton said.

“He qualified as a young offender at the time the offending took place and has already completed the 200 hours of work imposed under the community corrections order.”

Several of the males were brandishing knives and the hikers feared they were going to be assaulted or killed.

One suffered a cut to the finger while fending off the knife-wielding men.

The judges condemned the “cowardly and entirely unprovoked pack-violence”.

“It is simply intolerable in an open, civil society like ours that a group such as the EAM/NSN groups might seek to terrorise innocent members of the community by means of gratuitous, cowardly and entirely unprovoked pack-violence as occurred in this case,” the judgement summary read.

“The occupants of the Volkswagen ‘all were in fear of being assaulted or killed’. The fact that they had cause to believe that the group of men were white nationalists or ‘neo-Nazis’ would not have allayed the state of fear engendered. Given their historic antecedents, such groups are known to be violent thugs, whose raison d’etre is to intimidate and terrorise using force of numbers.”

During sentencing, judge Blair said the pair were young fathers with little prior contact with the criminal justice system and that their offending was at the lower end of the spectrum.