December 20, 2005
A self-confessed member of the white supremacist Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM) has been handed a 12 month jail sentence for his part in racial attacks on a Chinese restaurant and a Jewish food store. The 29-year-old man was on trial for being part of a group that defaced properties including a kosher food store and a Chinese restaurant with ANM stickers and racist graffiti last July. He had pleaded guilty to daubing graffiti on a synagogue in Perth. The trial judge described the behavior as abominable and shameful. The defendant's late guilty plea for the crimes indicated a lack of remorse, the he said. However, Blaxall's pre-existing psychiatric condition was taken into account. The prosecution said that in light of recent incidents, including the recent race-fuelled violence at Sydney's beaches, it was necessary for the courts to provide deterrents.
