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Queensland Facebook 'troll' pleads guilty
15:20 AEST Mon Aug 2 2010
1 day 1 hour 53 minutes ago
By ninemsn staff
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Jessica Cook defaced a Facebook tribute page.
Facebook 'troll' Jessica Cook has pleaded guilty to defacing a page dedicated to a murdered woman, The Courier Mail reports.
Gympie shop assistant Ms Cook, 22, was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence after she posted hateful comments and inappropriate photographs on a Facebook tribute page devoted to Justine Jones, who was murdered last month.
Ms Cook used a fake name to post offensive pictures, including a headless corpse and vagina, onto the page.
Magistrate Maxine Baldwin described Ms Cook's actions as "appalling, incomprehensible and absolutely sickening."
She also warned other online trolls that the "heavy hand of the law will come down on you" if inappropriate material is posted on social networking sites.
Ms Cook's lawyer, Michael Connolly, claimed that she was bullied as a child and suffered mental health problems.
Mr Connolly said she used the internet "as a way of venting her frustrations".
"She started trolling to get her point of view across but obviously it got out of control," he said.
"She has no desire to start trolling again."
It is unknown whether or not Ms Cook knew Ms Jones, whose body was found in a Sunshine Coast rubbish tip.
Ms Cook has been given a three-month suspended sentence and is banned from using social networking sites.
"Troll" is a common online term used to described a person who posts offensive or misleading material in a bid to provoke a reaction from others.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/...roll-sentenced