Death threats and threats of harm incited by the Australian Vaccination Network (NSFW)

One of Meryl Dorey’s trump whines has always been the cry that she has been the target of death threats and threats of harm from people who are real people. That being the case I wanted to point to some real threats of death and harm, made by real, traceable people: people who were incited to make their threats by Meryl Dorey and the Australian Vaccination Network.

On February 10 2012, Dorey published a blog post titled SAVN’s Trouble With The Truth. The post is basically Dorey having a moan about being contacted to substantiate many of her claims and lies. She used the title as a direct rebuke to Ken McLeod’s three-part series of facts, Meryl Dorey’s Trouble with the Truth, to which Dorey has never responded to clear up her conga-line of anomalous claims, despite many requests to do so.

But, here’s the rub. In that blog post, Dorey published the email addresses of all people who had contacted her with queries. She breached a most basic privacy law – remember she was the President and Public Officer of the AVN – and published private email addresses, and she did it out of pure malevolent vengeance. So, what happened?

Some days later two of those whose privacy was breached in that post were contacted by an AVN supporter. His threats were reported to the police, who took it extremely seriously, and acted immediately. The police were already aware of this individual who had been previously convicted for other serious offences. Here is his threatening email to Ken McLeod, as incited by Meryl Dorey and the Australian Vaccination Network:

And here is a second, related threatening email sent to another person whose email was published by Dorey. The subject line was “ken the sicko”:

It is now well-known that NSW Opposition Health Spokesperson Dr Andrew McDonald was also sent threats by supporters of the AVN. These, too, were incited by Meryl Dorey and the AVN. Just one example which got the pulses of Dorey’s acolytes running is a May 2012 media release sent out claiming that there is a government vendetta; a very common claim by the conspiracy theorist, Dorey:

And here is the associated Facebook call to arms, including the email addresses, provided by Dorey:

Speaking in NSW Parliament, on March 26 2013, Dr McDonald noted (p.19405):

When provoked, Australian Vaccination Network’s fellow travellers can and do behave reprehensibly. The police have been called to my office on one occasion following threatening emails after I raised concerns about the practices of the Australian Vaccination Network.

Here is another public threat made against Ken McLeod by another Dorey Facebook friend and AVN supporter, Troy Anderson, of Tasmania. In November 2012, Dorey, again inciting her followers, gets the desired response from Anderson. She had shared this AVN post on her private, yet, then, publicly visible wall:

I would love to pay him a visit, if I could but I live in tassie. There is only one way to sought out pricks like him, a good old pounding

I want to finish up with one of my own. I received my death threat on the morning of December 30 2013. The threat was incited by this post by courageous, anonymous AVN Facebook page administrator, “B52”, on December 29 2013. I addressed that particular example of the courageous anonymity of B52, here:   The public death rattles of the Australian Vaccination Network.

Many of the commenters have disappeared from that AVN thread. Having been exposed as a couple of the cowards behind the abuse of  Facebook reporting for the purposes of censorship, they put their tails between their legs and scarpered. Here is a selection from that AVN thread, where it was deemed appropriate to attack my children, among other indecipherable claims made by a person who has never heard of Epic Rage Guy:

And, here is the death threat I received via Facebook private messaging, incited by that AVN Facebook post. Frankie Vazquez is a long-term AVN supporter who lives in Adelaide. He is also a supporter of South Australian MP Ann Bressington, and the like-minded South Australian would-be politician and used car salesman Mark Aldridge. This is pretty run-of-the-mill for Vazquez. Ultimately, I think my main concern is that he cares for a baby:

So tell me again why the AVN is a registered incorporated association with a charitable fundraising authority, as opposed to being in the dock? Then maybe tell the NSW Attorney-General and the new Minister for Fair Trading. Many of us just can’t work it out.

A question I pondered on Twitter, and on Facebook, is whether or not I should involve the police in this matter. In doing so I would also be seeking to subpoena the real name of the courageous, anonymous AVN admin, B52. Given that he incited Vazquez to threaten me with death, I would guess that he should have some questions to answer. And given the AVN would be the publisher of the inciting post, and that it remains published, I guess Dorey and president Greg Beattie may also be contacted? Or Dorey and Beattie could just tell me his real name and contact details, given how they are so committed to justice. Surely they would want to see justice done? I would feel pretty confident that at least Vazquez has broken the law.

Here are the relevant sections of the Criminal Code Act 1995:

474.15   Using a carriage service to make a threat

Threat to kill

(1)  A person (the first person ) is guilty of an offence if:

(a)  the first person uses a carriage service to make to another person (the second person ) a threat to kill the second person or a third person; and

(b)  the first person intends the second person to fear that the threat will be carried out.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 10 years.

Threat to cause serious harm

(2)  A person (the first person ) is guilty of an offence if:

(a)  the first person uses a carriage service to make to another person (the second person ) a threat to cause serious harm to the second person or a third person; and

(b)  the first person intends the second person to fear that the threat will be carried out.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 7 years.

Actual fear not necessary

(3)  In a prosecution for an offence against this section, it is not necessary to prove that the person receiving the threat actually feared that the threat would be carried out.

Definitions

(4)  In this section:

“fear” includes apprehension.

“threat to cause serious harm to a person includes a threat to substantially contribute to serious ” harm to the person.

And:

 474.17   Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence

(1)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

(a)  the person uses a carriage service; and

(b)  the person does so in a way (whether by the method of use or the content of a communication, or both) that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive.

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 3 years.

But, as I’m obviously not a lawyer, I’ll ponder some more…