Heraldsun
THE MAN at the centre of a social media firestorm has been left devastated at being labelled a paedophile on Facebook.
While he was reluctant to speak about his experience, he told the Knox Leader exclusively that he wanted some good to come from the “nightmare”.
We have chosen not to identify the man.
He said he was horrified that his image had been shared thousands of times and he had been called a “creep” and a “sex offender”. He said he has also had death threats on Facebook.
The man in his 40s said he was shopping for a present for his partner at Westfield Knox on Wednesday and noticed a Star Wars display at Target.
The father of three young adults and teens said his family loved Star Wars films and he innocently took a photo of himself at the shop display.
“I have never even taken a selfie before,” the man said.
“There were some children there and I thought they were waiting to have a look at the display and I said to them ‘kids, I won’t be a second, I’m just taking a selfie to send to my children’,” he explained.
“There was no other adult around at the time.”
He said he was in a business meeting when his phone started to ring constantly.
“I finally called someone back and was told my photo was online and I had been called a creep.
“I felt sick. I am so embarrassed and devastated.”
The self-confessed “daggy dad” said he immediately went to Knox Police Complex to explain what had happened.
He said the police took his phone, checked its content and thoroughly investigated his story.
“That’s more than what the woman did who posted my photo without any investigation or course of natural justice.
Disturbingly he said someone on the street shouted out to him “sicko” when he walking to enter the police station.
“I fully expected to come home to find my house torched or something worse,” he said.
He pleaded with people to think before they shared information or photos on social media and said people should only rely on reputable sources of information like the Victoria Police Eye Watch Facebook pages.
He said he was just a “normal, decent family man” who now felt worried to leave his house.
“I understand that in the woman’s mind she was doing the right thing by her children but she has caused a lot of problems now for me,” he said.
“People need to get their information from proper news sources rather than rely on drama queens who share things without thought on Facebook.”
The man said he felt men were definitely vulnerable to what happened to him.
“Not all men are bad.
“I feel like I can’t even look at anyone or smile at them in public now. It’s frightening.”
“People need top be responsible for what they post on social media.”
His thoughts were echoed by many of our readers as the story was shared thousands of times.
“This is why men are no longer helping women out,” said reader Steven, who is now wary of helping children in public.
“I had a toddler fall at my feet at the local shopping centre and I started to bend down the help the poor kid up, I got the worst death stare from the ... mother,” he said.
“So I backed off & left (the child) there sprawled on the ground with its ice cream smeared all over the floor, and it was crying inconsolably ...
“I won’t be pausing to help ever again,” he said.
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Alan said: “I was at a Woolies checkout and a female child of about 9-10yrs old was looking at me from another checkout 3 down and started to smile at me as I looked in her direction.
“Yes, I smiled back and the mother immediately looked at me as if I was some sort of child molester. Can you believe that she followed me around the shopping centre and even out to my car.
“Don’t know if she took my pic or other details, but it sure made me feel uneasy. I’m a friendly 60 yr old male so it must be assumed that I am a pervert or worse.”
Craig commented: “I, as others have mentioned, will not help out women or children because of this. What a shockingly sad world we now live in. Everyone for themselves and trust no one”.
Since the story was posted on Facebook it has been shared more than 100 times, with hundreds of comments.
Dominic Nixon posted on Facebook: “And people wonder why there are no male primary school teachers ...”.
Chris, on Facebook, said: “I was at the park with my grandchild, girl falls of the swing next to me no way I was picking her up. Sad, sad world.”
Dean said: “Men are guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of many women today and I hope the guilty hang their head in shame.”
Melbourne dad Clint Greagen, who blogs at Reservoir Dad, said it was at the back of his mind when he was out and about with his children, and alone about how be was perceived by other people.
“You tend to try and give a smile or a nod so that you don’t come across as looking creepy,” Mr Greagen said.
Mr Greagen said it was often negative stories that were shared thousands of times on social media.
“Maleness in itself is not a crime or an illness of something we have to fight against,” Mr Greagen said.
In the interest of fairness
THE WOMAN at the centre of a social media storm over her Facebook post labelling an innocent man a creep, will not be charged by police.
But a leading Melbourne lawyer said the man could definitely take legal action against the mum and had a good case of winning a “very substantial sum of money”.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Clair White said officers had spoken to the 36-year-old woman, but no action would be taken as the dad did not want to pursue the matter. He said he did not want to punish her further.
“I don’t need or want people to be put in a worse position just to make me feel better,” the man told Knox Leader today.
Ms White said the pair would meet soon and the woman would apologise to him in person.
Media lawyer and principal at M+K Lawyers Justin Quill said the innocent man had been identified in public “and the mum published something defamatory about him”.
“She identified him through his photo. It doesn’t appear she has got a defence.”
Mr Quill said calling someone a paedophile was as about bad as it could get — in some people’s books worse than being accused of murder.
Mr Quill said in theory the dad could take action against Facebook, but was usually pretty hard to do, partly because they were based overseas and also because they had no knowledge of her defamatory comments.
He also said in theory the dad could also take action against every person who shared the photo on Facebook.
“The average punter doesn’t seem to appreciate that when on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, they are a publisher — the same as Peter Hitchener reading the news tonight or Andrew Bolt writing a column tomorrow.”
You know I understand the desire to protect the kids, but this is getting out of hand.
"it takes two sides to end a war but only one to start one. And those who do not have swords may still die upon them." Tolken
