Man avoids time behind bars over throwing shoes at Peter Dutton

A REFUGEE advocate has escaped jail time for throwing his shoes at Peter Dutton — but now says the immigration minister should be locked up.

Peter Dutton

A REFUGEE advocate has escaped jail time but will be fined for throwing his shoes at immigration minister Peter Dutton.

But David Sprigg, 34, is now saying Mr Dutton himself should be locked up.

Sprigg was found guilty of being a public nuisance following a one-day trial in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Sprigg threw his footwear at Mr Dutton at a citizenship ceremony in Brisbane’s south in June.

The immigration minister had started giving a speech at the event when Sprigg yelled “release the refugees” and “free the children” before throwing his shoes at the north Brisbane-based MP.

One of the shoes missed Mr Dutton but he managed to catch the other before carrying on with his talk.

Sprigg told the court he wasn’t remorseful for his actions, which he said was an act of protest against the government’s border protection measures and detention of refugees.

He reiterated this after his sentence was handed down.

“Peter Dutton should be on trial — two women have been raped (and) children are in detention,” he repeated three times while flanked by supporters outside court on Wednesday afternoon.

Peter Dutton, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection after appearing on Sky News at Parliament House in Canberra.

Magistrate Linda Bradford-Morgan agreed with the prosecution’s argument that Sprigg’s actions were disorderly and in contrast to the peaceful nature of the ceremony.

Prosecutor Julie Pietzner-Hagan said evidence given by several officers during the trial proved Sprigg’s actions had caused some level of alarm and disruption, although she said there wasn’t any concern about violence.

During closing submissions, the accused told the court the act was political, not criminal. He also disputed that his behaviour was disorderly.

“It is necessary for a democracy for people to be able to express their political opinion,” Sprigg said, adding that shoe-throwing was an act of protest recognised worldwide.

He also told the court he was a virtuous person who acted on his conscience, saying he was ashamed of the way Australia treated refugees.

Magistrate Bradford-Morgan said she did not accept Sprigg’s argument that his conduct didn’t interfere with the ceremony and handed him a $1000 fine.

“It is accepted that no physical harm was intended, however the conduct of throwing shoes is in contrast to the defendant’s assertion that he’s a pacifist,” she said.

The magistrate took into account the fact he only had one minor prior conviction — which related to a separate protest earlier this year — and ordered no conviction be recorded.

It’s not the first time shoes have been dispatched to send a political message.

Former prime minister John Howard narrowly avoided being thwacked with a Doc Marten boot while delivering a speech about leadership at the UK’s Cambridge University in 2009.

“Go home, you racist,” the boot-chucker yelled. “I am ashamed to be an Australian.”

Mr Howard was even more famously targeted by two flying shoes during a live appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program a year later.

Peter Gray drew international media attention when he threw both his shoes at Mr Howard in protest against Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war.

“That is for the Iraqi dead,” Mr Gray yelled while hurling his footwear in the ex-PM’s direction.

Mr Gray died in 2011, but not before asking the ABC to auction his shoes to raise money for the Red Cross.

But sometimes shoe-throwers get as good as they give.

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw two shoes at then-US president George W Bush’s head in 2008 and denounced him as a “dog” in one of the most famous shoe-throwing incidents of all time.

But he himself was almost hit by flying footwear during a news conference in Paris one year on.

“He stole my technique,” al-Zaidi reportedly said of his assailant.