Sydney man who degraded female Tinder user on Facebook faces three years behind bars
A Sydney man is facing up to three years in jail after allegedly posting a series of offensive comments online about a woman whose Tinder dating profile went viral.
Zane Alchin, 25, pleaded guilty and was charged with using a carrier service to menace, harass or cause offence after he allegedly wrote a series of degrading comments directed towards Olivia Melville after her Tinder profile was shared online by another man Chris Hall.
He previously denied the offence but changed his plea on Monday at Newtown Court, in Sydney.
The comment was prompted from a lyric in Ms Melville's Tinder bio from rapper Drake’s hit song Only, reading: "Type of girl that will suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you".
Mr Hall posted a screenshot from Ms Melville's profile to his own Facebook account and wrote next to it "Stay classy ladies. I’m surprised she’d still be hungry for lunch".
One of Mr Alchin's alleged comments said: "It’s people like you who make it clear women should never have been given rights", News Corp reported.
Another comment also referenced "raping feminists", but singled out one woman as not good looking enough to rape.
"You know the best thing about a feminist they don't get any action so when you rape them it feels 100 times tighter," he wrote.
Another post said: "It's people like you who make it clear women should never have been given rights," suggesting they should be taken back to the '50s were women 'knew their role and shut their damn mouth'.
Ms Melville reportedly attempted to ask Mr Hall to remove the post but when he refused, it prompted her to share the post on her own Facebook page.
When Ms Melville's friends became aware of the post they started to share it and accused Mr Hall of "s*** shaming" their friend and they decided to take action.
The friends set up Sexual Violence Won't Be Silenced and now have over 11,000 likes on the page. This campaign brought attention to their plight against Mr Alchin.
"This result demonstrates that there is a precedent in Australian law that says this behaviour is unacceptable," the group wrote on its Facebook page on Monday.
"It means that harassing women online is not only legally reprehensible, but socially and morally as well.
"Our victory today sends a message to all women that they don’t have to put up with harassment online; that there are steps and channels they can take, and that Australian law is on their side."
One Facebook user posted to the page "Alchin covered his face with a suit jacket as he left the court, while a man accompanying him told reporters and photographers: 'This is harassment'. Oh the irony!"
Mr Alchin will be sentenced on July 29 and faces up to three years in jail.
News break – June 20
