Sex offender ‘vigilante’ spared jail for Facebook posts
Rex Martinich
The first man accused of misusing a key public sex offender registry has been spared jail after wading through messages warning him not to publish identities on his website.
Brian Allan Smith appeared in Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to accessing the Queensland register and publishing information about a sex offender.
A lawsuit was filed against a 47-year-old man It comes after Queensland created Australia’s first public child sex offender register under legislation honoring kidnapped teenager Daniel Morcombe.
The child protection register was made available online from 31 December, providing access to photos and locations of sex offenders.
Smith posted the credentials he applied for on social media, despite the website’s warning that doing so would be a crime.
A police prosecutor told magistrate Leanne Scoines that a member of the public told police on January 2 that information in the logbook had been posted on a Facebook community group.
“This is the third time this post has been removed. I have been suspended from other groups for the same post, but this face needs recognition,” Smith said on Facebook.
“He is scum and should not be living in society. Please keep an eye on your children. It appears on Daniel’s Law’s new website.”
Anyone wanting details of sex offenders in their area in Queensland must submit an application containing their own ID and address.
Court documents obtained by AAP said the offense took place in Lowood, east of Brisbane, on January 1 – the day after the sex offender site went live.
Scoines heard Smith tell police he wasn’t aware he was committing a crime.
“He did not read the document and went directly to the image,” the prosecutor said.
“He stated that he did not intend to cause any harm or harassment to the offender who should be reported and felt he was doing a good thing by raising public awareness.”
Smith’s attorney said Smith was remorseful and that his attack was out of character and misguided.
Scoines told Smith he clearly felt the information should be made public. But there were practical reasons against this, including encouraging child sex offenders to keep their registration information up to date.
“Taking the law into your own hands like this and still pressuring is vigilantism. [the posts] “It was shot down three times,” he said.
Smith was given a $700 good behavior bond for six months and no convictions were recorded.
The sex offender website was created under Daniel’s law and is named after 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted and murdered by a serial child sex offender on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in December 2003.
The Daniel’s law website states that it provides applicants with detailed information about “reportable offenders who have a history of repeated sexual offenses against children or who are considered to pose a high risk to children in your residential area.”
AAP
