Shock twist for Stan Grant’s alleged harasser
A man accused of making threats to former ABC presenter Stan Grant and his family, including in an expletive-laden video, has had multiple serious charges withdrawn.
Michael Steven Davis on Tuesday fronted Sydney Downing Centre Local Court where police withdrew three counts of using a carriage service to harass or offend.
The 41-year-old still faces a single charge of using a carriage service to threaten serious harm and is expected to enter pleas when he returns to court later this month.
The withdrawn charges related to allegations Mr Davis used his Twitter account RefuseResistAIS to menace Mr Grant and his family between May 22-23.
Police still allege that Mr Davis used his Facebook account, Fixxhalo82, to post a video threatening serious assault against the former ABC presenter.
Mr Grant, a 59-year-old Wiradjuri man, stepped down as host of ABC’s Q+A in May, citing “relentless racial filth” and claimed the network was an “institutional failure”.
Only days later, Mr Grant is alleged to have been subject to Mr Davis’s threats online, which he reported to police on May 24. Mr Davis was arrested later that afternoon.
Mr Davis, from Fairfield Heights, describes himself on Facebook as a “right-wing Christian conservative” and identifies as “a man from 1990 where your pronouns don’t exist”.
He is barred from making contact with Mr Grant under the conditions of an apprehended violence order, which will also be reviewed in court on October 31.
