Nationalist activist Thomas Sewell has had his three-day trial for allegedly intimidating a police officer delayed, and revealed he may now face arrest for defending himself during a peaceful protest.
Mr Sewell, the leader of political organisation White Australia, represented himself in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday to fight multiple charges of intimidating a police officer and breaching multiple personal intervention orders.
Police prosecutors asked for an adjournment due to issues with a key witness, and the magistrate agreed to move the contest hearing to the first week of September, despite Mr Sewell telling the court he wanted the matter dealt with as soon as possible and declaring: “The process is the punishment.”
A court suppression order prevents media from reporting details of the alleged police intimidation, or any information that could identify anyone Mr Sewell is accused of intimidating.
Speaking to reporters outside court Mr Sewell said he was unable to speak about the case due to his bail conditions, but described the charges as “false” and the case being dragged out as “political persecution”.
“We’ve had about 30 charges put on our organisation this year, about 27 of them have been dropped, so there’s still a few remaining charges like this one to go, and when these charges are dropped, or whether we go to jail or don’t go to jail, there’ll be more charges later,” he said.
“So all of these charges come from the fact that we are advocating for White Australians, the government is against us doing that, they allow a multicultural state, where every other identity group, or cultural group, or racial group can advocate for their own.
“But when White Australians do this the government has a policy of terrorism against those people, and that’s what we have been on the receiving end of for about five years.”
Mr Sewell then said the police had indicated they were going to arrest him for “assaulting” a homeless man who attacked him as he led about 150 members of the National Socialist Network on a march through Melbourne’s CBD on August 8.
“I was attacked by a deluded deranged person that decided to jump in front of the ‘White man fight back’ rally,” he said, and showed journalists injuries to the side of his head.
“The police have threatened to arrest me today. I told them I would be at the magistrates’ court ready to be arrested, but they’re cowards, they refuse to do that, and instead they want to kick my door in in the middle of the night and drag me out in front of my family to further intimidate political dissidents.
“We were performing a peaceful demonstration in the city, which we have the right to do as Australian citizens, I was attacked at the front of that rally by a deranged lunatic, and I defended myself.”
Mr Sewell said he had been asked to attend a police station instead, but said he was unable to do so as it would breach bail conditions that were extended in court that morning.
Header image: Left, right, Mr Sewell speaks to reporters outside court (supplied).
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