On a Wednesday outside Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, a former senior figure in Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazi extremist organisation made an unprompted public intervention, using his court appearance to demand the release of decorated veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, who is currently facing five murder charges linked to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Joel Davis, the ex-leading member of the National Socialist Network (NSN), appeared before the court this week for a routine procedural hearing in his own ongoing criminal case. Davis faces 10 separate charges of using a digital communications service to menace, harass, or cause offense against two high-profile Australian political figures: federal independent Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender, and New South Wales Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane. He has not yet entered formal pleas to any of the charges against him.
Court documents and prior testimony outline the allegations against Davis. Last year, after Spender publicly condemned an NSN rally held outside the New South Wales state parliament, Davis sent a viral inflammatory message on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram that read, “Patriots, I bid thee to rhetorically rape Allegra Spender.” Separately, he is accused of posting a threatening comment about Sloane on social media, writing, “stupid b**** needs to be beaten fr (for real)” in response to a news article about the NSW Liberal leader.
Davis was only released from custody last week, after the New South Wales Supreme Court granted him bail. The court confirmed during that bail hearing that Davis had cut ties with the NSN: the extremist group had expelled him six months prior after his violent viral comments brought widespread public condemnation and reputational damage to the organisation, with NSN state leader Jack Eltis ruling that Davis had “brought the organisation into public disrepute.” Davis had previously claimed in a failed January bail application that he had left the group, just days after NSN announced it was disbanding. His defense lawyer told the court that Davis has shifted away from his prior extreme political views, and now aims to focus on raising his newborn child—whose birth he missed while he was in remand custody.
As part of his strict bail conditions, Davis is barred from coming within 100 meters of Spender, Sloane, or their electoral offices, is forbidden from contacting either woman directly, and has been banned from accessing any social media platforms.
Outside the Downing Centre on Wednesday, Davis ignored questions about his own legal case and instead turned attention to Roberts-Smith, who was formally charged with five counts of murder by the Australian Federal Police just one day earlier. Roberts-Smith, a former Victoria Cross recipient once lauded as Australia’s most decorated modern soldier, is accused of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians during his deployments to Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.
Davis framed the prosecution of Roberts-Smith as a symbol of national failure in comments to waiting reporters. “I don’t want to talk about my case but I want to say something about Ben Roberts-Smith’s situation, which I think is emblematic … of everything wrong with this country,” Davis told reporters. “What kind of a country prosecutes its war heroes … Free Ben Roberts-Smith.”
Wednesday’s procedural hearing saw Davis’ case adjourned, with the next court date scheduled for June this year.