Australian nationalist Joel Davis will spend at least three more weeks in solitary confinement for a social media post after a magistrate rejected his application to be released on bail to spend Christmas with his newborn son.
The prominent White Australia activist, 30, appeared by video link in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, more than a month after being charged over an alleged Telegram post directed at federal MP Allegra Spender urging his followers to “rhetorically rape” her.
The post was allegedly made in response to Ms Spender calling for him and other National Socialist Network members to be jailed over a protest against the influence of the Jewish lobby on Australian politics on November 8.
Mr Davis was arrested on November 20, the day his child was due, by an Australian Federal Police National Security Investigations (NSI) team, and charged with “using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence”.
He was refused police bail, denied bail by a magistrate the next day and taken to the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, and then refused permission to apply for bail on December 3.
His lawyer Matthew Hopkins of Paladin Lawyers told the court on Tuesday his client had only spent 7 hours outside of isolation in “harsh custodial conditions” while in pre-trial detention since his arrest, is yet to meet his son, and is needed to help with parenting duties.
Mr Hopkins presented new evidence to the court that he argued showed the prosecution case was not strong, including examples of the phrase allegedly used by Mr Davis being present in an academic and political context, including in a book by two American academics called Rhetorical Rape: The Verbal Violations of the Punditocracy, and an article titled “How Woke Progressives Rhetorically Rape You”.
He also argued that Mr Davis’s statement was political rather than criminal or threatening as it was made in response to a political statement from an elected representative, and told the court the alleged effects of the post on Ms Spender as detailed in her statement to police did not meet the threshold set by the High Court for being “menacing, harassing or offensive” political communications.
Mr Hopkins told the court Mr Davis had also shown in comments made during an interview with 9News the day after the post that he did not intend for the phrase for the phrase to be threatening or taken literally.
During the interview Mr Davis said to reporter Mark Burrows, “It’s rhetorical, I said ‘rhetorical’, people should engage in spirited rhetoric, in a democracy we should convey ideas hotly”, Mr Hopkins told the court, and submitted a transcript to Magistrate Susan McIntyre.
Mr Hopkins also submitted that the length of the delay in the case amounted to a change in circumstance that should be taken into account when deciding whether to allow the release application.
But Crown prosecutor Justin Cho told the court the delay was not unexpected, disputed Mr Hopkins’ arguments about the academic nature of the phrase allegedly used by Mr Davis, and said the accused’s family circumstances had already been considered at the first bail hearing.
Ms McIntyre noted that Mr Davis was on bail at the time of his arrest on “Nazi symbols” charges over a belt buckle in South Australia, and found that the case was proceeding “on time”, ruling the previous adjournment did not amount to a change in circumstance.
She told the court that she did not find the material presented by Mr Hopkins diminished the prosecution case, saying it will “go before a trial of fact as an alternative hypothesis that ultimately is not a matter for this court on release”.
She further ruled that Mr Davis’s personal circumstances, including the birth of his son and fatherhood, had been raised previously and were not enough to overturn reverse the first magistrate’s decision, and that Mr Davis’s custodial circumstances “were a matter for corrective services”.
“How they deal with their remand prisoners is up to them, there is no reason in my view that the confines within the custodial setting would found a review of the application,” she told the court.
“None of those factors in my view meet the high benchmark that is set for a further release application, release is refused.”
Mr Davis will reappear in court on January 14.
Noticer News understands he has been refused access to books in custody, but is in high spirits and intends to continue fighting the charge.
He also sent his supporters a message saying “I wish you a Merry White Christmas”.
Since Mr Davis’s arrest NSI teams have charged a number of people with alleged “hate speech” and “Nazi symbols” offences, but earlier this month granted bail to one man who allegedly threatened to kill Communications Minister Anika Wells and her family in November.
On Friday AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the AFP was seeking to lower the threshold for “hate speech” in the wake of the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack, and more than doubled the number of teams.
Header image: Left, right, Joel Davis during NSN protests (supplied).
