£1,000 fine for “grossly offensive” Facebook comment

Saturday 11 February 2017

A man who posted a comment on Facebook suggesting the way to ‘solve’ the Syrian refugee problem was to “shoot them” has been fined £1,000.

The Magistrate’s Court was told the comment by 54-year-old Dale Minikin under the name ‘Dale Jersey’ on ‘The Real Rock’ Facebook page was one of a number of posts in an online discussion, about a play being staged locally about how the Island was reacting to the refugee crisis.

In response to the question as to how to solve the problem Mr Minikin tersely posted: “shoot them. Job done”. According to his advocate it was an ill advised comment that he posted on the spur of the moment in a "fleeting moment of stupidity," and that at no time was he seriously considering going out to shoot anyone, nor was he encouraging anyone to violence.

Nonetheless, he admitted it was a racist comment and could stir up action. The site has an estimated 600 users.

Sentencing Mr Minikin, Magistrate Sarah Fitz, said the court was sending out a “strong message to others that such offensive behaviour would not be tolerated”.