Arabic version: توجيه تهمة لرجل من بيرث بسبب تهديدات لبولين هانسون

According to ABC News, a 47-year-old Perth man has appeared in court accused of threatening to kill One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Anton Raymond Illich was charged in July with two counts of using a carriage service to make a threat.

The court heard Mr Illich is accused of making three Facebook posts, including a post on a One Nation members and supporters page. In one post, he allegedly said he would “hunt her down and kill her”. It was revealed in court that Ms Hanson was the subject of the alleged threats.

Representing himself, Mr Illich told the court his conduct was “stupid, crazy” and said he made the posts because he wanted to shut down his Facebook account. He said he had no intent and was “never a direct threat”. Mr Illich indicated he wanted to plead guilty, though the court heard the matter was likely to proceed to a higher court.

The magistrate ordered Mr Illich not to contact Ms Hanson. He is on bail and is scheduled to appear in the magistrates court again in October. The Australian Federal Police said in July it had begun investigating after being notified of an alleged online threat to kill a federal parliamentarian, without revealing the identities of either the accused person or parliamentarian at that time. The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years in prison.