Councillor's Facebook fiasco lands her a philanthropic penalty
Instead, the former Liberal Party member-turned-independent was ordered by a magistrate to make a $2000 donation to the Royal Children's Hospital as punishment.
'Bonus: the donation is tax-deductible. I'm off to the post office first thing this morning to sort the money order – because, you know, accountability,' Agirtan commented on a local Facebook page.
This winding tale dates back to October's fever-pitched council elections, when an anonymous Reddit user posted, according to material heard in court, the following: 'Jane Agirtan (bully, transphobe, anti-vaxxer) elected to Kingston council.'
Agirtan, having identified the poster's real name, then shared it with her 4000 Facebook followers – along with their workplace, a prominent Melbourne legal firm. She urged her followers to 'collectively help' the lawyer 'overcome her Auntie Jane derangement syndrome'.
An online pile-on allegedly followed, prompting the court to grant the lawyer a personal safety intervention order against Agirtan. Charge sheets show the councillor was subsequently charged with breaching that order by failing to remove the post within 24 hours.
While the post remained online for months after the fact (albeit with the name in question edited out), Agirtan's Facebook account now appears to have been wiped clean.
But the independent councillor still might have a few hurdles to leap. She was stood down from her role in April, pending the outcome of the Magistrates' Court case.
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