Two weeks after being cleared of serious sex charges, a Dunedin man was back in trouble with the law.
Christopher John Ferguson (31) made headlines at the end of March when he had eight sex charges, including two of rape, dismissed after the main complainant admitted mid-trial that she had concocted the story.
The 13-year-old girl originally said Ferguson had repeatedly violated her over several weeks, but during cross-examination she told the court he had never touched her.
The defendant then told the Otago Daily Times "it feels great to finally have my name cleared".
Ferguson ended up spending 10 months behind bars after he was refused bail before the trial.
But his fresh start following his release only lasted a matter of days.
On April 13, he asked someone to get in contact with his ex-partner regarding access to his child.
That contravened a protection order which had been granted in 2011 in their favour.
Counsel Andrew More said his client’s request came because of a derogatory Facebook post from his former partner, which he read on his release.
Judge Michael Crosbie accepted that offence was at the "lower end" of the spectrum.
But the second incident he described as "offensive, much more offensive".
"This is pretty horrible stuff," he said.
After the protected person did not get in touch with him about their child, Ferguson wrote a vitriolic Facebook post, featuring a barrage of four-lettered words.
The judge spelled out a couple of them which had been added to the post in the form of "hashtags".
It took some discussion between him and defence counsel Andrew More to clarify the utility of them, but Judge Crosbie said what was clear was that using social media widened the audience of offensive material.
"It’s so very easy to use Facebook and other forms of communication — Twitter or Instagram or whatever — but that does not excuse the conduct," he said.
"In fact, people are going to get more and more caught out because it increases the likelihood other people will see what you’re saying."
While the Facebook post did not name the complainant, it was reasonable to infer it was directed at her, Ferguson admitted.
The judge noted the defendant’s previous convictions for breaching protection orders and for violence against women.
"I understand how people get caught up and get stressed with issues with respect to children," he said.
"That’s not a reason to see your conduct denigrate into the gutter as it did on this occasion."
Mr More said Ferguson had now done his best to block his ex-partner on social media channels and was committed to using legal channels when it came to access to his child.
Ferguson was sentenced to 140 hours’ community work and six months’ supervision, specifically to undertake a Stopping Violence course.