Prominent Australian nationalist Thomas Sewell has appeared in court on charges of allegedly intimidating a police officer, calling the case against him “ridiculous” and saying it should be thrown out.
Mr Sewell, 31, the self-described leader of White Australia, represented himself in the Ringwood Magistrates Court on Tuesday where he said he did not break any laws by allegedly making comments which police later used to charge him with two counts of intimidating a police officer or police officer’s family member.
He is also accused of multiple personal safety order intervention order breaches, but the nationalist activist told the court he was being unfairly targeted by police and would fight the charges. He faces possible prison time if found guilty.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” he told the court, Nine News reported.
“This is political persecution.”
A court suppression order prevents media from reporting details of the alleged police intimidation, or any information that could identify anyone Mr Sewell is accused of intimidating, including their previous and current addresses.
Mr Sewell told the court he wanted the record to show that his own address was published on national television in a Four Corners documentary on Monday night.
The magistrate responded by saying Mr Sewell could follow that up by making a statement to police, to which Mr Sewell replied: “I’m sure the unbiased Victoria Police will do something about it.”
After Mr Sewell’s requests for legal assistance were rejected by Magistrate Hayley Bate, he opted to fast-track his case to a three-day contest hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in August.
When Ms Bate asked if the dates suited him, Mr Sewell took out a diary and checked the empty pages before declaring he was available.
Outside court Mr Sewell was asked by a reporter about his statement that he was being targeted by police, and whether that would “change his behaviours”.
“No, because I’m not a slave, because I’m a free man, I’m an Anglo-Saxon,” he responded.
“And no matter how much they persecute us, we’re going to continue to put forward our political rights.
“And if that means they have to put us in jail, if that means they’re going to, you know, our homes have been firebombed, we’ve been on the receiving end of harassment from the police, from media, from Communists, from the government, it’s non-stop.”
Header image: Left, Thomas Sewell outside court on Monday. Right, on Elijah Schaffer’s Slightly Offensive podcast last year.
