Australian actor Damien Richardson has been told to work with Jewish community leaders to come up with a “restorative justice” program or face a harsher sentence for making a satirical Nazi salute.
Richardson, 56, appeared in Moorabbin Magistrates Court on Thursday for a sentencing hearing after being found guilty in November of performing the salute during a speech at a private event in Melbourne last year while saying: “Am I gonna be fined now? I’m going to go jail for five years?”
Magistrate Justin Foster accepted Richardson was not a Nazi, anti-Semitic or showing loyalty to Adolf Hitler, and that he made the salute to mock Victoria’s ban on the gesture and hit back at a negative newspaper article, but found him guilty because “it clearly looked like a Nazi salute”.
The former Neighbours star and political candidate was accompanied by a large group of supporters during pre-sentencing submissions, and prosecutor Nicholas La Mattina began by telling the court the offence came with a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment or a $23,000 fine.
He told the court Nazi gestures were incompatible with a multicultural and multiethnic society, and caused a “significant impact” not only on the Jewish community but on a wide range of other groups including aboriginals, homosexuals and the disabled.
Mr La Mattina gave the court two examples of sentencing for Nazi salute offences on opposite ends of the spectrum, the first involving seven men in Geelong who made the salute in a post-football game photo but were spared convictions after completing cultural awareness training and writing “letters of reflection” following visits to a holocaust museum.
He said the other involved National Socialist Network activist Jacob Hersant, who was sentenced to one month in jail for making the salute outside a Melbourne court. Mr Hersant appealed his conviction and challenged the salute laws on constitutional political freedom grounds in the County Court in October, and a judge is due to deliver his decision by December 19.
Richardson’s lawyer Peter Monagle told the court the salute was made to have “satirical go at The Age”, his client mentioned in the same speech that his grandfather fought the Nazis, admonished anti-Semites in the crowd, and did not hold Nazi or fascist views.
He told that court that Richardson, a father of three, had lost his NDIS accreditation as a result of the incident, had been publicly shamed, was targeted by far-left extremists who stuck up posters in his neighbourhood, which took a toll on him and his family, and said his client’s gesture was far different from Mr Hersant’s.
But Mr Foster the interjected and said: “At the moment all we’ve done is talk about the impact upon him, I haven’t heard you say anything about the impact upon the Jewish community or anyone else who’s affected by these sorts of gestures”
“When they see this, whether on Facebook or in front of the court, they can’t determine the intention behind your client. Does he understand that?” he asked.
Mr Foster went on to tell Mr Monagle that Richardson should have “fallen on his sword from the outset” and “come armed to court with what he’s going to do to make amends to the Jewish community”.
“There’s been a massive failure of leadership when it comes protecting the Jewish community,” he said.
The magistrate said Richardson could put together a “program” with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), which had representatives watching the hearing, in connection with the Australian government’s Special Envoy on Combating Anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, and suggested discussions with holocaust survivors, a Jewish museum visit, conversations with “key figures” who have been impacted by anti-Semitism, and a letter of apology to the Jewish community.
“I’m not a Jew myself, I can’t understand the pain they go through as much as they do, surely you should be reaching out to them in conjunction with the prosecution to put together some sort of program,” Mr Foster told Mr Monagle, saying he could then look at using that to impose a Community Corrections Order or adjourned undertaking.
“If he doesn’t have any support for Nazi ideology, as I have found, then he shouldn’t have any problems undertaking that sort of program. There needs to be restorative justice for the Jewish community.
“If it’s not agreed to, well, there are other options on the table.”
Mr Foster then adjourned the hearing so Mr Monagle and Mr Richardson could speak to the ECAJ about a potential program, and a short time later set a new sentencing date for December 19.
Header image: Damien Richardson during his speech (Facebook).
The post Neighbours star told to apologise to Jewish community before Nazi salute sentence first appeared on The Noticer.
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