Internet Troll Avoids Jail Over Threatening Online Messages About Tinder Profile

The Australian man who pleaded guilty to posting sexist and abusive comments about someone’s Tinder profile will not face jail for internet trolling.
In June it was reported that 25-year-old Zane Alchin could spend up to three years in jail for sending the abusive messages last year.
However judges have ruled that Alchin will not spend any time in prison, despite pleading guilty to the charges.
Last year, Alchin was found to have written abusive messages on a screenshot of Olivia Melville’s Tinder profile that was posted online.
On her profile, Melville had quoted a line from the Drake song Only: “The type of girl that will suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you.”
After the profile was posted on Facebook by Chris Hall, Alchin posted a host of threatening and abusive comments about Melville and her friends who were showing her support.
Among the messages included comments like: “You know the best thing about a feminist they don’t get any action so when you rape them it feels 100 times tighter.”
The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to having sent these messages, but said he was drunk when he wrote them and that the words weren’t a reflection of his true personality.
And after pleading guilty, Alchin was handed a 12 month good behaviour bond, after Magistrate William Pierce found his comments did not amount to inciting rape.
The magistrate also said the Australian had “experienced a great deal of pain” because of the ordeal.
Melville’s friend, Paloma Brierley Newton spoke out after the ruling, saying: “I think young men need to stop saying that they are not responsible for their actions because of alcohol when so often young female victims of sexual assault are questioned about how much they have had to drink before the assault.
“I drink, my friends drink, my male friends drink, I’m sure some of my male friends who are really good at swimming and who are labourers drink but you know what they don’t do? They don’t rape women.
“Alcohol is not the problem, the attitude men have gotten away with towards women, that’s the problem.
“Young men need to start taking some responsibility for their own actions and behaviour.”
To read more about the case please click here.