A man from Bristol, England, was sentenced this week to 18 weeks in jail for using his Twitter account to abuse and threaten a female MP.
Peter Nunn, 33, began his campaign of abuse, which included death and rape threats, against Labour MP Stella Creasy in July 2013 after she proposed adding author Jane Austen to a ten-pound banknote, according to AFP.
From the report:
Among the tweets was one saying: “Best way to rape a witch, try and drown her first then just when she’s gagging for air that’s when you enter.”
The part-time delivery driver also wrote: “If you can’t threaten to rape a celebrity, what is the point in having them?”
Nunn claimed in court that his attacks on Creasy were meant to “satirize” the issue of online harassment. He also claimed in court that he’s a “feminist.”
The judge who presided over the case, Elizabeth Roscoe, rejected Nunn’s arguments, claiming in court that his behavior towards Creasy was “entirely unacceptable.”
The British MP hailed the court’s decision to jail Nunn, saying in a statement that his punishment is “a step forward in recognising the distress and fear online harassment can cause.”
However, she added, law enforcement officials need to be better trained to identify and catch online “trolls.”
