Neo-Nazis’ ‘terrifying’ attack on hikers deserved more jail time, court told

Two neo-Nazis should have been jailed for longer over a terrifying attack on hikers because they did not have good prospects of rehabilitation, an appeal court has been told.

The Office of Public Prosecutions wants Thomas Sewell and Jacob Hersant put behind bars for up to a year, arguing their earlier sentences for violent disorder were manifestly inadequate.

Thomas Sewell (centre), arrives at the appeal hearing with his partner (left) and barrister Dermot Dann, KC.Credit: AAP

Sewell, 31, was jailed for 37 days and Hersant, 25, three days with a 200-hour community work order, after pleading guilty to an attack on three bushwalkers who filmed the pair’s group at the Cathedral Ranges National Park at Taggerty in May 2021.

Chief crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane, KC, told the Court of Appeal on Friday that Sewell and Hersant had surrounded the strangers and attacked their car while the pair were in the area with a large group of other men all dressed in black clothing.

“This must have been terrifying offending for victims who were completely innocent group of people who had attended the same place and happened to be present when they were set upon by members of two groups – the European Australian Movement of which Mr Sewell was the leader, and the National Socialist Network of which Mr Hersant was the leader,” Kissane said.

“A large group of males … wearing something of a uniform in the sense they had black T-shirts with a Celtic cross.

The National Socialist Network at a gathering in the Grampians.

“Some of the group had knives.”

Kissane said the offence of violent disorder, which has never been tested in the Court of Appeal before, was created to address pack-mentality crimes.

A more significant prison sentence for Hersant and a longer stint behind bars for Sewell, who was on bail at the time of the offending for an attack on a security guard, were required to reflect the gravity of the unprovoked attack, the prosecutor said.

Kissane said it also was not open to the sentencing judge to find the two men had good prospects of rehabilitation. The maximum sentence for violent disorder is 10 years’ jail.

Jacob Hersant (right) arrives at court on Friday.Credit: AAP

Sewell’s barrister, Dermot Dann, KC, said the appeal was highly questionable and should never have been brought.

He noted his client had spent 210 days on remand for the offending, largely in solitary confinement because he was a high-profile inmate.

“The hardest time imaginable,” Dann said.

He argued Sewell’s prospects of rehabilitation must be judged on his lack of prior convictions, family support and employment, not whether his political views could be changed.

During the sentencing, County Court judge Kellie Blair said the pair were young fathers with little prior contact with the criminal justice system. Blair said the offending was at the lower end of the spectrum, and believed their prospects of rehabilitation were good, which prompted disbelief from extremism experts.

“Good luck with the future, gentlemen,” Blair said as she left the bench.

In challenging the appeal application, Hersant’s defence barrister, Christopher Carr, SC, said his client was only 22 at the time of the offending – six years younger than his co-offender – and his behaviour was uncharacteristic and spontaneous.

The only injury caused to the victims, he noted, was a small cut to the finger of one of the men.

Outside court, Sewell claimed the appeal was a “political witch hunt”.

When asked about how life on remand was in solitary confinement, he replied: “Meditative.”

Court of Appeal president Karin Emerton and justices Maree Kennedy and Christopher Boyce are considering the appeal.