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Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes appeals conviction 'poisoned' by social media | Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes appeals conviction 'poisoned' by social media |
(35 minutes later) | |
Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes should never have faced trial when such a prejudicial and “malicious” social media campaign was being hurled at him, his appeal has heard. | |
“Hang the pedo” was just one of the phrases that barrister Phillip Boulten SC said got more than 220,000 “likes” when it was posted on social media in the lead up to the actor’s trial last year. | |
Related: Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes guilty of sexually assaulting young girls | Related: Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes guilty of sexually assaulting young girls |
Indeed, Boulten told the court of criminal appeal on Monday that the social media coverage was so puerile and contemptuous, Hughes was unable to have a fair trial. | |
“This was a case where there was poisonous vilification of the applicant not by mainstream media but by very effective social media that involved the most poisonous and vile publication that anyone could ever receive,” he said. | |
“(It was) designed to ridicule and undermine the appellant’s position before and during the trial,” he said. | |
Included in the online onslaught against Hughes were comments by one of the complainants against him, Boulten said. | |
“This was not an ordinary media event ... (she) was an active part of it. | |
Related: Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes sentenced to at least six years in jail | Related: Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes sentenced to at least six years in jail |
“She ran a running commentary. We now know she did that using a pseudonym so she could not be identified.” | |
Boulten said the online publicity amounted to a malicious campaign to ensure Hughes did not get a fair trial. | |
The trial Judge Peter Zahra underestimated the problem the coverage created and should have placed a permanent stay on the proceedings, he added. | |
Hughes was jailed for at least six years in 2014 over 10 charges relating to sexual and indecent acts perpetrated on four young girls in the 1980s and 1990s. | |
The 67-year-old is appealing his conviction and sentence on a number of grounds, including that the judge failed when he allowed all the counts against him to be heard in a single trial. | |
Hughes, who is currently not eligible for parole until April 2020, did not wish to appear in court for the hearing. | |
His partner, talent agent Robyn Gardiner, who supported him throughout the trial, was also not in court. | |
The appeal comes more than a year after Zahra described the once popular sitcom actor as a sexual predator who systematically exploited young girls and then relied on his position to ensure his victims’ compliance and silence. | |
The hearing continues. | The hearing continues. |
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